


Set it Off

by LStar



Series: Despair Days [2]
Category: New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/F, Fluff, Kidnapping, M/M, Mental Breakdown, Minor Self Harm, Panic Attacks, Psychological Torture, Sequel to "Whispers in the Dark", Smut, Stalking, Substance Abuse, Suicidal Thoughts, Suicide Attempt, Torture, angst train starting up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-02
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 19:35:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 25
Words: 52,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22981102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LStar/pseuds/LStar
Summary: One year. It'd been one year since the incident with Haruto. One year, and Kokichi's living with Kaito in a new apartment, with a new life. The peace that kept everyone happy is starting to fade, however, as Kokichi feels like he's being watched. Convinced maybe he was just paranoid from the previous year's events, he doesn't look too deep in to it...but that was his first mistake.
Relationships: Akamatsu Kaede/Chabashira Tenko, Amami Rantaro/Saihara Shuichi, Iruma Miu/Yonaga Angie, Momota Kaito/Oma Kokichi
Series: Despair Days [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2125155
Comments: 253
Kudos: 293





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> May change the summary. Dunno.

"Who's ready to _fuckin party_ , bitches?" Miu shouted. A small chorus of 'me!' rang through the room. In Miu's apartment, Kokichi, Angie, Kiibo and Himiko were getting ready. Kaito had gone ahead to Rantaro's house to help him get ready, he'd offered to take Kokichi early to help, but Kokichi promptly declined, much preferring not doing any of the work. Kaito had simply rolled his eyes and gently smacked his head.

It was a New Year's Party. 'New year, new him' didn't have to start until after midnight. For now, he was content continuing to stay the shitty little gremlin he was. Of course, he also didn't believe in the 'new year, new you' bullshit that everyone always spoke of. In Kokichi's humble opinion, if you want to change yourself, do it whenever, don't wait for a new year to start.

Miu wore a low cut v-neck black dress, revealing lots of cleavage, heels, and her hair was in a low braid. Her finally official girlfriend, Angie, wore a very modest white dress that only revealed a little bit of her upper arms, and flats. The two were so opposite it was still a little staggering seeing them together.

Himiko wore a red off the shoulders dress and small heels, Kiibo wore a teal shirt with colored jeans and sneakers.

Kokichi himself wore the white scarf that Kaede had given him on his twenty first birthday, a lavender shirt with checkers on the rims of the sleeves, white skinny jeans, his usual black shoes, and a little something extra just for Kaito. A little device rested in his pocket, out of sight.

"Let's move it, hoes! I got beer in the back of my car and I want to start drinking!" Miu hollered, running out. It's amazing how she's able to run in heels. Everyone followed her, with Kiibo being the responsible one and locking the door behind them, knowing full well Miu would likely be staying at Rantaro's for the night.

Angie hopped in the passenger seat of Miu's car, while she got in the driver seat. Kokichi, Himiko and Kiibo all squeezed in the backseat. Miu, without waiting for anyone to be buckled, stepped on the gas and drove off speeding to Rantaro's house. "Angie, put some music on for us!"

"Which one?"

"How about the one that insinuates what everybody's gonna be fuckin' doing later?"

Angie fiddled with Miu's phone, plugging it into the aux cord and turning the music up. _Deepthroat_ came on. At once, Miu, Angie, Himiko and Kokichi started singing at the top of their lungs.

"Hump me! Fuck me! Daddy better make me choke! Hump me! Fuck me! My tunnel loves a deepthroat!"

Kiibo used his palms to cover his ears.

Kokichi, sitting in the middle of Kiibo and Himiko, flung himself over Kiibo. "Lick, lick, lick, lick! I wanna eat _yo dick_!"

"But I can't fuck up my nails!" Miu screamed.

"So I'mma pick it up with chopsticks!" Angie chimed in.

"Mouth wide open, mouth wide open..." they continued, laughing as they all but wheezed the lyrics out. Poor Kiibo kept his gaze out the window with his hands over his ears. He shrugged off Kokichi, who was still clinging on to him playfully.

Pretty soon, though for Kiibo is wasn't soon enough, they arrived at Rantaro's mansion. They saw Kaito's truck, and Maki's car already there. So, they were the last to arrive. Once the car was shut off, Kiibo glanced at the time. "Guys, we're eleven minutes late."

"We're not eleven minutes late, Kiibo, we're fashionably late," Miu interrupted, grinning.

"But how are we late? You were speeding."

"I took the long route, dipshit, gotta listen to my girl CupcakKe more than just a few times!"

Kiibo put his face in his palms. "Remind me never to carpool with you again."

"Yeah, yeah, you fucking said that last time," Miu brushed him off.

"And the time before that," Himiko giggled.

The banter continued as they got out of the car. Kokichi was about to join in...but he swore he heard one of the bushes nearby rustle. He stopped walking and turned around, his eyes narrow. There were several bushes all around the house, so it was impossible to tell which it came from. Maybe it was a jack rabbit? Or a raccoon? There were tons in the area. But something in Kokichi's gut told him that wasn't it. His brows furrowed as he kept staring around, but not seeing anything of note.

"Come on, Cock-kichi!"

"...Coming," Kokichi turned back around and jogged to catch up. As he did, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. But he kept going anyway.

Inside, Rantaro's house was decorated with all different color streamers and balloons. Some were attached to the string and floating, some were blown up and scattered on the ground. Kokichi kicked a balloon aside as Rantaro and Shuichi came out to greet them.

"You're late. Did something happen?" Shuichi looked concerned.

"Hell yeah something happened, it's called CupcakKe," Miu snickered. Rantaro smiled in obvious exasperation while Shuichi mouthed 'cupcake?' to himself. Kokichi skipped over and slung an arm around the taller male. "Shumai, my beloved, CupcakKe is a singer. I'll have to get you to listen to her music."

"Okay? Thanks, I guess?" Shuichi smiled awkwardly.

"Shuichi, trust me, just stick to your classical music," Rantaro said in amusement.

Kokichi stuck his tongue out. "Boo. You're no fun."

"You want fun? Your boyfriend's in the living room."

Kokichi's face lit up. "My true beloved!" and with that, he turned on his heels and bolted for the living room, hearing Shuichi sigh to Rantaro a quiet 'please don't encourage him'.

When he got to the living room, sure enough, Kaito was lounged on the couch, clearly exhausted. Kokichi hurried over. Kaito's eyes were closed, and his breathing was even. He'd fallen asleep. What a stupid boyfriend he had! He pouted, and stood next to Kaito, leaning down close to his face.

"Kaito, there's a ghost watching you!" he all but shouted.

" _What_ _the_ _fuck_?" Kaito screeched, his eyes shooting open and he flailed, before falling off the couch. Kokichi doubled over in laughter. Kaito sat up, glaring at him.

"Kokichi!"

"Is everything okay in here?" Kaede peeked her head in, blinking when she took in the sight of Kaito on the ground, "I uh...I heard screaming?"

"It was Kaito."

"Shut up!"

"Oookay, well, we're serving dinner now, so..." Kaede smiled and left the two of them.

Kaito huffed and got up. Kokichi took in the sight of what his boyfriend was wearing, eyeing him appreciatively. He was wearing a white button up shirt, with the two three buttons undone, revealing his chest, and a black jacket and jeans. "Come on," Kaito had calmed down, "I'm starving."

"Wait," Kokichi whined, shifting a little, "I wanna give you something."

"What could you possibly give me? We live together, I've seen all of your stuff."

Kokichi let out a mischievous giggle and reached into his pocket, pulling the little device out. He clenched it in his fist. "Hold out your hand and close your eyes." Kaito rolled his eyes, but did as he was told. Kokichi put the device in his hand. "Kay, open!"

Kaito opened his eyes and glanced down at the questionable thing. He sucked in a deep breath once he realized what it was. "You fucking-"

"Turn it on, up, down...keep me entertained tonight, Kaito," Kokichi smirked, turning away and walking to the threshold of the living room. What he didn't expect, however, was for Kaito to turn it on, and _up_ , right away. He froze before he reached the doorway crumbling to his knees with a gasp.

The vibrator he was wearing was turned up all the way. Kaito walked up behind him, and Kokichi could _hear_ the gloat in his voice.

"Really shouldn't have given me total control of the remote after pranking me," he commented, wicked amusement in his eyes.

"B-bully," Kokichi panted.

Kaito snorted and turned the vibrator to more of a dull hum and helped Kokichi up. The two made their way to the kitchen, where Rantaro, Shuichi, Kaede, and a few of Rantaro's sisters all cooked dinner. There was a gigantic pot of toshikoshi soba, as well as fried lobster tails, sushi rolls, corn bread, and other things.

Everyone was given a plate. All of Rantaro's sisters sat at the table, and Rantaro and Shuichi sat with them, leaving everyone else to be standing, sitting on counters, sitting on the ground, and so on.

"I propose a toast! To the New Year!" Nanako, Rantaro's now fourteen year old sister cheered, holding up a glass of milk.

"To the New Year!" Everyone echoed, some holding water, juice, milk, and beer.

Chatter filled the room as everyone ate. Kokichi and Kaito sat together, with Maki not too far away, on her phone, texting someone.

"Ooh, Maki roll, are you texting a certain nurse?" Kokichi asked slyly. Maki glared at him.

"That's none of your business."

"Maki roll, be nice," Kaito chastised, his hand that was not holding his chopsticks in his coat pocket.

Maki looked annoyed. "Tell him to stop then."

"I am. Trust me." Kaito replied, and at that second, the vibrator was promptly turned up. Kokichi squirmed a little. Maki wrinkled her brows and sighed in an obvious dismissal, and walked away to go join someone else.

"K-Kaito..." Kokichi whined, now alone with his boyfriend standing up in the corner. Kaito hummed with a curious look on his face as he brought a roll of sushi to his lips.

Kokichi stamped his foot a little. "Come on, turn it down," he begged. Kaito set the chopsticks on his plate and reached into his pocket, but rather than turning it down, it went up a notch. Kokichi leaned forward, struggling not to make any noise.

"Kokichi? Are you okay?" Himiko questioned from her spot by Kaede and Tenko.

"I'm fine," Kokichi forced out, grinning.

"Maybe he has indigestion!" Tenko suggested.

"Gross."

Kokichi huffed and turned to glare at Kaito, who was now munching on a lobster roll. "Kaito, wanna sit down?"

Kaito shrugged and sat down. Kokichi sat...on his lap. More specifically, on his dick. He positioned himself, making sure to rub Kaito as he did so. Kaito's face was flustered as he dropped his chopsticks back on his plate, the lobster tail hanging out of his mouth as he fumbled with his jacket. The vibrator, thankfully silent, was on the highest setting, and Kokichi leaned over, chomping the opposite end of the lobster to avoid moaning.

"Get a room, you two," Maki said in disgust, standing beside Kiibo.

"I mean, it could be worse," Kiibo offered, "at least they're just kissing and sharing food."

"I-" Maki sighed and covered her face with a hand. "I'm done."

Kokichi pulled away, flustered. "Kaito, didn't you have beer in the back of your truck?"

"I..." Kaito gulped, "I think I did."

"Let's go get it."

"Yeah. Let's." The two got up, setting their food on the counter and rushing out. Maki grumbled under her breath as they did, "they make it so obvious what they're doing, why doesn't anyone else notice? I'm surrounded by idiots."

The two males got in the backseat of Kaito's truck, and with lots of awkward shifting, Kaito shut the door behind him, pinning Kokichi to the seats, leaning over and roughly kissing him. "We gotta make this quick," Kaito breathed.

"Yeah, no shit, _honey_!" Kokichi snickered breathlessly.

"Don't ruin the mood with your fucking vines."

Within minutes, Kokichi's pants and colored boxers were hanging off of one ankle while Kaito's pants were down enough for his cock to be out. The vibrator, now off and along with the device, was on the ground of the truck. Kaito was thrusting in and out of Kokichi, both grunting and moaning, and suddenly extremely grateful that Rantaro's mansion was gated off with bricks, so no neighbors outside could see the truck moving.

Not five minutes pass, and both boys were orgasming. After a moment of panting, Kaito reached over to the front seat where the glove compartment was, and got some wipes out.

"You...you were prepared?" Kokichi asked.

"Nah, I had these in my car since the night that Miu threw up in my truck."

"Fair."

Kaito smiled a little, and quickly cleaned them up, tossing the wipes in a bag. They fixed themselves up, and hurried back inside.

"What took you so long? Everyone's already done eating," Shuichi piped up when they returned.

"Yeah, I don't see any beer," Angie smiled knowingly.

"Must have been a real big quickie," Miu snickered. Everyone else all but rolled their eyes and ignored it, going back to whatever they were doing.

Kaito and Kokichi sat on the couch- well, Kaito did, and Kokichi comfortably sat on his lap so others could sit on the couch as well.

"So, what're everybody's New Year resolutions?" Rantaro asked. His sisters spoke up first, each with their own little thing, before everyone else began. Maki said resolutions were stupid, which Kokichi wholeheartedly, loudly, agreed with her. The two shared a mutual nod of approval.

Shuichi was promising to be more open, out of his shell. Kaede was gonna learn the Death Waltz by the end of the year, Tenko was going to try to be nicer to men, Himiko was gonna be lazier, Angie promised to get more people to love Atua, Kiibo was going to try doing morning workout routines, Kaito was gonna keep Kokichi happy (which earned him a smack to the shoulder from a flustered Kokichi and an approved hoot from Miu).

"And Miu? What's yours?" Rantaro asked.

"Angie and I are gonna try out every fucking kink int the goddamn book, that's what my resolution is! Doesn't matter what it is, we'll try it!" Miu looked proud.

"Knife play?" Kokichi asked casually.

"I'll fuck myself with a knife if I fucking have to," Miu retorted.

"Okay, what about you, Rantaro?" Kaede cut in, making Miu whine dejectedly.

"No! Rantaro's perfect! He doesn't need resolutions!" Mayu, the youngest sister, declared, moving to hug her brother's leg. Rantaro laughed, a fond smile on his face, while everyone else relaxed.

"Oh! Look! It's one minute until midnight!" Maho said excitedly.

Everyone glanced at the tv, which was on mute, as the countdown began.

"Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!" Everybody cheered, and Kaito swooped in for a kiss. Kokichi made a noise of surprise but returned the kiss. The music was turned up, some pop song, and everyone was chatting, the positivity was blinding. So, while Kaito spoke to Shuichi, Kokichi excused himself to go outside, sitting on the porch steps for a breather.

The air was freezing, and Kokichi was shivering, as he hadn't brought a jacket. But it was calming. And less suffocating. The hair raising feel of something being out there, the same feeling he got when he first arrived tonight, returned. He stared ahead, listening to distant laughter from neighborhood kids. But he didn't hear anything else. None of the bushes moved. Nothing.

"Hey, are you okay?" Kaito asked from behind him, moving to drop his jacket on Kokichi's shoulders, "you're gonna catch a cold."

"Yeah, I just..." Kokichi inhaled, "feel like something's off."

Kaito frowned. "Maybe you're paranoid? I mean I hate to say it, but Haruto's trial was last year. You're still not completely over what happened. It's normal."

"Yeah," Kokichi breathed a sigh, watching his breath form in the chilly night, "you're right. Even last year, seeing Haruto after being separated from him for two years was bad. I'll get used to the normal life soon enough."

"That's the spirit! Now, come on inside! We'll get Rantaro to make some hot chocolate, kay?" Kaito stood him up, and ushered him in. Instantly, Kokichi felt a wave of fear run down his back, but he kept facing forward as to not worry Kaito. He realized, with a start, what this feeling was.

It was the feeling of being watched.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's been a couple weeks since the new year started, and Kokichi still feels like he's being watched.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit. Like, deadass, HOLY SHIT. I didn't expect this to gain popularity so quickly. WITD fans yall fuckin rock

"There you are, have a fabulous day," Kokichi told a customer with an overly excited smile. The customer thanked him, and left. God, he fucking hated people. He hated working in general. He had nothing against the job itself, but he had to make money, and he couldn't be himself. He had to put on this mask of cheery helpfulness or he'd be in trouble. What a fucking waste.

He worked at a beauty store, along with Rantaro. Rantaro had actually been the one to get him the job as he was an assistant manager. While he was grateful, he couldn't help but also highly dislike the job. Being at work just meant bringing out the best in yourself no matter what your mood was, and still getting yelled at over trivial things. He sighed, and walked away from the register to go check on his other customers. It was a small store, so very few employees worked during the day. Today it was him and Rantaro for morning shift. Rantaro was on break at the very moment, but he should be back soon enough.

He peered over the aisle, only to pause in amusement. The customer was trying to put stuff in their bag quietly. They were so bad at stealing it was embarrassing _Kokichi_. Oh how badly he wanted to tease them about it...but, unfortunately, he had a job to do. Fucking kill joys.

"You planning on paying for that?" Kokichi asked, keeping his expression bored.

The customer jumped and turned around to face him, a nervous look on their face. "Paying for...what?" he asked.

Kokichi sighed and leaned against the shelf. "The perm rods you snuck into your bag."

The customer anxiously took it out. "I was just holding it."

"Kay."

The customer hurried out. Kokichi had no clue if anything else was stolen, so he just rolled his eyes and walked back to the register. He didn't care. He didn't get paid enough for this shit.

Within minutes, a man came in, looking annoyed, and held a bag. Oh boy.

"I need to return this. It isn't working the way I wanted." The man shoved the bag at Kokichi, who barely looked inside the bag. Some nail drill set.

"Receipt?"

"I threw it away. I didn't think I needed it. I expected better from this store," the man snubbed, holding his head up high, "I've been shopping here longer than _you've_ been _alive_."

"Uh huh. Well, we can't do refunds without receipts," Kokichi said in a matter of fact tone. He had absolutely no sympathy for selfish pigs.

The man's face twisted. "I've gotten refunds without my receipt before."

Kokichi shrugged. "Well, our policy changed. It happens. Ours changed at the beginning of the year." It'd been almost three full weeks since the New Year party, so the policy was still pretty new.

The man's face contorted to fury. "Are you kidding me? I spent too much money on this piece of shit and you're not gonna refund me? What am I supposed to do now?" he demanded.

Kokichi fought the urge to roll his eyes and sigh. "Sell it? Throw it away? I don't know." It wasn't his problem. He was starting to get a migraine.

"Why would I sell something that's basically broken? And why would I waste money throwing it away? Where's your fucking manager? I want to talk to them."

Kokichi really did sigh this time. "Not here. She's off today." Right after he said that, the door opened, and in came Rantaro, Kokichi's official savior. "But, _he's_ our assistant manager," he nodded to Rantaro, who paused, two cups of coffee in his hands. He blinked, surprise flitted across his face. He glanced at the counter, then at the customer, his eyes morphing to understanding.

"You're the assistant manager?" The customer questioned.

Rantaro gave an easy smile. "Yes sir, I am." Kokichi envied how easy and patient Rantaro was.

"Your little employee is being a selfish little shit and won't refund me," the man snarled. Rantaro glanced at his watch, then moved over to hand Kokichi the two coffees.

"Hey, go put those in the back, I'll handle this. I'll clock in in a minute."

"Yes sir, Rantaro sir," Kokichi gave him a goofy smile, accepting the cups and hurried to the back, glad to be rid of the annoying customer. He really hated people. He set the two cups on the desk in the back, and plopped on the chair, groaning. Two hours. Just two more hours. And he could go home. Of course, he had classes today in about three hours, but class was better than dealing with people like that man.

Within minutes, Rantaro was coming in the back, smiling. "He's gone."

Kokichi rose his eyebrows. "That was fast."

"Yeah. I just explained the policy change, and he went on about how you said the same thing, but you were much more rude about it, then started insulting you, so I just told him, very kindly, to stop talking about you like that or he'll have to leave. He left right after." Rantaro chuckled.

Kokichi snorted. "'Very kindly'? Yeah, fucking right. I bet you gave him your creepy look and said it in the most threatening tone ever."

Rantaro whistled. "I don't like people talking crap about my friends."

"And this is why I love you, my dearest Rantaro," Kokichi cooed, "Shuichi is a very lucky guy."

"Yeah..." Rantaro suddenly flushed, picking up one of the two cups of coffee and bringing it to his lips, "that one's yours, by the way."

Kokichi gave a mock sniffle. "You're giving me free coffee too? You're the sweetest little avocado I darn did see!" he picked his cup up and sipped. It was extremely sweet. Just the way he liked it. "Maybe I should dump Kaito and start dating you," he joked.

Rantaro laughed a little. "Sure. We can elope to America."

"Kaito and Shuichi can start dating. It's Rantaro and Kokichi now."

The two shared a laugh.

Really, it was amazing that Rantaro was able to keep up with him, even joke with him. Of course, it wasn't that much of a surprise, as he had went to high school with Rantaro. He'd also gone to high school, and junior high, with Miu. They were the only two who could truly keep up with him without getting tired. Even Kaito, his own boyfriend, stopped after a bit and just told him to quiet down or he'll tickle him. Honestly! The nerve! Threatening him, Kokichi Ouma, with something as trivial as _tickles_!

"I wanna go home," Kokichi groaned.

"I do too, but I have some shopping to do after work, it's pretty important," Rantaro replied, moving to sip his coffee.

Kokichi smirked. "What, you finally going to buy an engagement ring for Shuichi?" he teased.

Rantaro choked, his face turning dark red. But he didn't deny it.

"...Oh my god, you are."

"Don't tell anyone. Please."

"Holy shit," Kokichi started laughing, "you're- you're going to propose to Shuichi!"

"Yes, okay? I am, please don't tell him," Rantaro begged.

"I won't, I won't," Kokichi snickered, "I just didn't expect that. I didn't think you'd wanna settle down so quickly."

Rantaro looked mildly insulted. "We'd been dating for two years now. I think that's enough time."

"What about classes?"

"What about them? If he agrees, we'll have the wedding during a break," Rantaro shrugged, "maybe summer break. Or maybe winter break. Who knows?"

"Mm. You plan on making me your best man?" Kokichi winked.

Rantaro smiled anxiously. "I mean...I'd rather discuss it with Shuichi. I want us both to agree on everything."

Kokichi gasped. "So you're _not_ going to make _me_ , your _oldest_ and _dearest_ friend, your best man? Waaah! Rantaro's so mean!" he cried, crocodile tears springing to his eyes. Rantaro cringed a little at his loudness.

"Look, if it was just my decision, I'd choose you, but Shuichi has a say in this too, that's all I'm saying," he tried to soothe.

"Hmph. You're still a meany."

Rantaro sighed, and Kokichi grinned. The rest of their shift consisted of them discussing the wedding, wedding ideas, and Kokichi's occasional whines.

And, closer towards the end of his shift, he felt the same feeling of being watched that he'd been feeling at random, though more frequently, since the party.

~

When Kokichi got home from work, Kaito was home from his classes already. He was on the couch, reading a cosmology book. At the start of the year, he took astrophysics, star structure and evolution, cosmology, and planetary geology, as he'd completed his core classes the previous two years and almost got straight A's. As much of an idiot as Kaito could be, Kokichi had to admit, at least to himself, that Kaito was brilliant. Kaito could even fluently speak English, Russian, and German. And learned about their cultures through and through. Kokichi could never admit it, but he was extremely proud of his boyfriend. Hell, even now, there was only a couple more months until their third college year was over, and as far as Kokichi knew, Kaito was passing all of his classes with all A's.

Maybe at the end of the year, he could reward him with a galaxy printed cake? Maybe suck his dick? Treat him to dinner? He had faith Kaito was going to succeed and become the astronaut he's always wanted to be.

For now though...

"Kaito! You wouldn't _believe_ the day I had!" Kokichi cried out, flopping over on Kaito's lap. Kaito moved his book out of the way, raising his eyebrows questioningly. Kokichi continued. "I had someone try to steal, and they were such _amateurs_ at it! It was embarrassing to watch! And then someone kept calling me mean names just because I was doing my job!" Kokichi pouted.

Kaito pat his head sympathetically. "I'm sorry. That must've been rough."

"It was! I just wanted to cry!"

Kaito rolled his eyes, clearly seeing through Kokichi's dramatization. "Well, it's over now. I can make us a late lunch, if you want," Kaito closed his book and started to stand up. Kokichi whined and moved so he was actually sitting on Kaito's lap.

"No, stay here with me until I go to class."

Kaito sighed, as though he were exasperated, but Kokichi could see the tiniest hint of a smile on his face. "Sure. I guess I could use a little dose of Lil 'Kichi as a break from studying."

Kokichi playfully stuck his tongue out at him. Kaito tapped his tongue, making Kokichi make a small, strangled noise, before he put his tongue back in his mouth. "Ew, gross. You're nasty, Kaito."

"Says you."

"Yeah, says me."

Kaito wrapped his arms around Kokichi's waist. "So what are you gonna do about it?"

Kokichi wrapped his arms around Kaito's neck, tilting his head to the side. He smirked. "Absolutely nothing."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

"Huh. Too bad."

"Mhm."

"Guess I'll have to make a move."

"Huh?"

Kaito darted forward, latching his lips on to the exposed bit of Kokichi's neck, and brought Kokichi closer to his muscular body. He inhaled and started blowing raspberries on his neck. Kokichi _squealed_ , caught off guard. "N-no! Kaito no!" he whined, a giggle escaping his lips as he tried to push away, but Kaito had him effectively trapped.

"Kai-hai-hai-haito! Sto-ha-aha-hap!" Kokichi gasped out through his laughter.

Kaito pulled away, grinning mischievously.

"Bully."

"Oh? So I'm a bully now?" Kaito moved his hand to gently brush Kokichi's sides. Kokich whined and squirmed, a little relieved and a little disappointed at the same time when Kaito let him. He snuggled in to Kaito's side, all disappointment fading to contentment.

"Mm. You are."

"I can live with that." Kaito leaned back on the couch.

The two stayed like that, in silence, until it was time for Kokichi to go. He got up. "You going anywhere else today?"

Kaito shook his head. "No, I'm done with classes for today, and I got groceries yesterday."

"Can I borrow your truck? I don't feel like walking."

"Keys are on the kitchen counter."

"Thanks, love," Kokichi beamed and all but skipped to the kitchen, grabbing the keys. He grabbed his bag that was always on the living room chair, and started to head out. Just as he put his hand on the doorknob, Kaito spoke up.

"Kichi."

"Yeah?" Kokichi paused, glancing at him.

Kaito smirked. "You may want to grab a couple phone books so you can see over the steering wheel this time."

Kokichi scowled and flipped him off. The first time, and last time, he drove Kaito's truck, he'd had to scoot the chair forward just to reach the pedals, but as a result, he also couldn't see over the steering wheel. Stupid Kaito and his stupid long legs. He just had to adjust the truck a little and he'd be fine! He heard Kaito laughing even as he left the apartment.

As he headed to the truck, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He paused, looking around. But he didn't see anyone.

"Is anyone there?" he called tentatively. Instantly, he wanted to fucking slap himself.

_Yes Kokichi, because in all movies, if the hero is being stalked, the stalker totally comes out of hiding and says 'yeah sorry that was me'. The fuck are you fucking thinking you cliche dumbass?_

Kokichi heaved a deep sigh, continuing the short trek to Kaito's beat up truck. He unlocked the passenger door and tossed his bag on the seat, slamming the door shut and walking over to the driver's side. It took lots of fiddling around with the wheel and the chair, but eventually, he was able to see over the wheel _and_ reach the pedals. Thank you very much.

He started the truck, listening to it roar to life. He noticed the gas was running low, and shook his head. Stupid Kaito and his stupid long legs and his stupid brain forgetting to put gas in his own truck. Well, he could do that after dinner before he headed back to the apartments. Just as a little thank you for letting him borrow the truck.

As he drove to the college, he swore he saw a silver car following him. It made all the same turns as him, and...that car was in the parking lot by the apartments, wasn't it? Anxiety began to pool at Kokichi's gut, and he started to take another route. To his relief, the car didn't follow him.

Kokichi let out a shaky breath that he didn't know he'd been holding, before deciding to stop at a store to pick up a bottle of grape panta to calm his nerves. He bought one at a nearby small convenience store, and got back in the truck, before finally heading to his classes. He'd be a few minutes late at worst, thanks to him taking a bunch of routes to lose the silver car. It'd been paranoia, but it was worth it.

When he parked by the science building where his psychology class was, he grabbed his bag, and got out of the truck, slamming the door and locking it.

As he headed inside, he didn't see the silver car, parking not too far away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me? Projecting my job onto Kokichi? More likely than you think. This was a BIT of a vent chapter tbh-  
> Also, updates are slow until I figure out how to get from Point A to Point B. It hasn't been on my mind recently, but I promise I'm really trying here. I'm having tons of debates on when Point B happens, and even how long this fic could or should be. Life's being it's own piece of shit recently, and I keep getting distracted with new fandoms (A3, Toilet Bound Hanako-kun, Given, and some others, but those are my main interests right now)  
> Not important.  
> But, keep the support up!!! :D that's the only reason why I'm trying so much at this point honestly.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaito thinks about his past with Kokichi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS IS MOSTLY A THROWBACK TO BOOK 1 TO RECAP THEIR RELATIONSHIP!!!  
> There is new stuff though so don't skip the entire chapter!!!

Kaito settled down on the couch, his cosmology book in his hands, with a smile on his face. He loved teasing Kokichi just as much as Kokichi loved teasing him. Well, okay, maybe not _as much,_ but still, he enjoyed it. It was just one of those things that eased up any tension, or lightened up the mood. Kaito could tell the moment Kokichi had arrived home that he'd been stressed, and tired. He did his best he could to help relax his smaller boyfriend. Tickles usually did the trick, or raspberries, but when Kokichi showed exhaustion by asking to use his truck, Kaito didn't mind in the slightest, and added his sly comment about Kokichi's height to make him laugh. Sure, Kokichi had given him a death glare and flipped him off, but he knew Kokichi wasn't actually offended. He probably rolled his eyes at worst, chuckled at best.

He'd do anything for Kokichi.

It was a little jarring, in Kaito's opinion, how just over a year ago he despised Kokichi with every ounce of his being. He very vividly remembered when he and Kokichi met up, both drunk out of their minds, at the party. He hadn't recognized him. That's how drunk he was. And how drunk Kokichi was. They'd ended up having sex and...well, Kaito hadn't taken well to this fact at all.

. . .

_"Why the hell are we sleeping in the same damn bed?!" Kaito screeched._

_"Well Kaito, it appears we slept together," Kokichi said blandly, pursing his lips._

_Kaito snarled, slamming his fist against the wall. "Are you fucking serious? I fucked you? I swear I thought you were someone actually worth fucking last night," he snapped._

_Kokichi winced at the loudness, rubbing his head. "Yeah, yeah. I didn't recognize you either."_

_"This is a damn disaster," Kaito muttered, pacing, "I had sex with the person I hated the most."_

_-_

_"You want us to be friends with benefits."_

_"That would be the correct term, yes."_

_Kaito clenched his teeth. "We'll always remain enemies."_

_Kokichi rolled his eyes. "That goes without say."_

_"No emotions, no kissing, no hugging, no aftercare. Just me fucking you whenever one of us is stressed and leaving," Kaito said firmly. Kokichi simply nodded._

_. . ._

Kaito chuckled. He'd been so angry that day. At the time, he had just turned nineteen that year. Of course, he was twenty now, he'll be twenty one in a few months, and thinking back on it, he'd been extremely immature. Even when he'd talked to Rantaro about Kokichi when he got home to the apartment he'd been sharing with Shuichi at the time, he was still conflicted. Really, it'd been stupid. He knew that now. If he could have told his past self to not be afraid of just helping Kokichi, to not let his pride and anger get in the way, so much shit could have been avoided.

He closed his eyes.

. . .

_Because of the feud, Maki and Tenko loathed Kokichi with their entire being, and Shuichi was uncomfortable around him. He knew Shuichi didn't necessarily hate Kokichi, but he didn't want to be around him._

_And since they don't want anything to do with Kokichi...if his sidekicks found out about his deal with Kokichi...they'd be really disappointed in him. They wouldn't rely on him anymore because he betrayed their feelings. They'd grow to hate him too. He'd be left alone._

_"Goddammit!" Kaito slammed a hand on his steering wheel, feeling pain flare up on his hand, but he ignored it._

_He sat there for a few more minutes, agonized and angry over his stupidity. He glanced at the time...it was not too long after eleven in the morning. Briefly, he wondered if Kokichi was still at the guest bedroom or if he made it home safely before crushing the thought._

_No. He didn't care. He didn't care about Kokichi. He was a little shit who teased him. He groaned and got out of his vehicle, slamming the door and locking it before heading upstairs to his apartment door, where he fished his keys from his pocket and unlocked the door._

_-_

_"Hey, Rantaro? What...what kind of guy is Kokichi, really?"_

_Rantaro blinked, obviously caught off guard. "Well...he's a troublemaker. He teases people."_

_"Strangers can tell you that."_

_"But," Rantaro continued, "he has a good heart. He's been through a lot. I met him at the start of high school, he was always with this guy who often yelled at him. I...I know he was in a pretty bad place. I don't know the details though," Rantaro avoided Kaito's gaze. "...No, I do know a lot of the details. But it's not my business to tell."_

_"Did something happen?"_

_Rantaro looked genuinely torn. Like he wanted to tell Kaito and convince him that Kokichi wasn't a bad person, or if he should be respecting Kokichi's private life. Finally, he relented. "Yeah, something happened. I don't want to...tell you what exactly happened, because it's up to Kokichi. But basically, in a nutshell, his friend had a bunch of friends over on their date night, and the next thing we knew, he was in the hospital."_

_"What...the hell happened?" Kaito muttered, more confused than anything, "the hospital?"'_

_"His body was roughed up. He called me and his speech was completely slurred, like he'd been drinking. I came over to check on him, and he was in really bad shape. I called an ambulance, and I found out later he had a bad case of alcohol poisoning. They had to pump his stomach and use oxygen therapy."_

. . .

Finding out a little bit on Kokichi's past had come as a huge shock to Kaito. At the time, he'd been lost, even hesitant on believing Rantaro, despite knowing Rantaro had gone to high school with him. Of course Rantaro wasn't an expert on reading Kokichi, Kaito knew that, but he'd known more about Kokichi than anyone else he was acquainted with. There was Miu who knew even more, as she had been his best friend since junior high, but she wasn't even his friend. Hell, she had, at the time, always shit talked him, sassed him, and would have no problem banshee screaming his ear off for even breathing in Kokichi's direction. He smiled a little. Even now, he was relieved Kokichi had such protective friends.

Even Rantaro had gotten wary when he admitted that he and Kokichi were going to become friends with benefits.

. . .

_Kaito sighed. "I got pretty drunk last night. I ended up sleeping...with Kokichi," he admitted slowly, eyeing his green haired friend warily. Rantaro's eyes widened in obvious surprise, before frowning, looking a little disturbed._

_"I see."_

_"And...we agreed to...do it again."_

_"Huh?"_

_"Friends with benefits."_

_"You...what?" Rantaro was looking more and more disturbed. Kaito stiffened at his tone, going defensive rather quickly._

_"It was his idea. I agreed to it."_

_Slowly, the disturbance faded, though his eyes were still concerned. "It was? Well..." he shrugged, leaning back. "That's...interesting."_

. . .

It made sense, though. Rantaro had known about...the _incident_. The incident that happened to Kokichi when he was in high school, dating that goddamn fuckwit Haruto Izumi. He hadn't been sure what to make of the info that Rantaro had given him...and honestly? Hearing Haruto's explanation had only confused him even further. God, he was so stupid for not putting the pieces together sooner.

. . .

_Haruto's face was completely blank, a hint of anger in his eyes. "Well," he smiled tightly, "Kaito, was it? Have fun with the toy."_

_"The toy?" Kaito echoed, skeptical._

_Haruto's tight smile became a wide, maniacal grin. "Yes. The toy. You know, he's willing to have sex with anyone. He's even begged me and my friends to fuck him. He got really kinky too, and had quite the fantasy."_

_"What fantasy?" Kaito asked, unimpressed._

_Haruto's grin seemed to widen, however impossible it felt. "He asked us to get him drunk and not only fuck him dry, but use a bottle to loosen him up."_

_"Shut up," Kokichi whispered._

_Kaito blinked, turning to glance at Kokichi, then back at Haruto. "What do you mean, exactly?"_

_"I mean-"_

_"Shut up!" Kokichi screamed, causing Kaito to jump a little, and for Haruto to laugh._

_"Don't be embarrassed, Kokichi. He has to know. He deserves to know what a little whore you are."_

. . .

Of course, knowing the truth now, and considering what Haruto had said, Kaito's blood would boil. God he fucking hated Haruto. He really hoped Haruto was rotting in his prison cell. He'd even looked up if people like Haruto would be respected, or if they'd be outcasted in prison. Unfortunately, it seemed likely that Haruto would gain respect. However, Kaito recalled when Kaede told him about Haruto, that he had been raised that way by his abusive uncle. He was so convinced that he was this righteous man who could do no wrong. Maybe it would anger his prison mates? Who knows?

Whatever, at least Kokichi was safe from him. Unlike...Kaito's grip on his book tightened.

. . .

_He wasn't too far away from the park when he heard a scream._

_Kaito whirled around, startled. He...didn't imagine that, did he? He remained frozen in place, until he heard laughter that could only remind him of the Joker. It was the laughter mixed with what sounded like sobbing that got him moving. He bolted back towards the park, his eyes searching for the source of the distress._

_He didn't expect to find what he saw._

_It was...Kokichi. Laying in the grass in nothing but a t-shirt and jeans, laying in a bloody heap on the ground. It looked like the source of the blood came from his knuckles and his arms. It seemed like too much blood though. With a jolt, he realized Kokichi had a bag over his head, and the bag was closed. He was shaking, convulsing, suffocating._

_Kaito darted forward as fast as he could. "Kokichi!" he screamed. He dropped to his knees beside the small boy, who didn't seem aware of what was going on. "Kokichi! Hey! Listen to me! You're gonna be fine!" he shouted, trying to grab the ziplock. Kokichi kept his small hands over it though, and Kaito had to wrestle his hands away to grab it and unzip the bag, yanking it off his head. Blood was in the bag, and it was on the ground. Ah, so his head was also bleeding...that wasn't good._

_Kokichi continued hyperventilating, his eyes diluted. He definitely wasn't aware of what was going on. Was he suffering brain damage? He's also lost too much blood for comfort. So he did the one thing he could do._

_He called for an ambulance._

_Kaito tried to explain all he knew, but he didn't know much. The ambulance arrived within minutes. In that time, Kaito tried to help Kokichi in any way he could- but Kokichi's hyperventilating caused him to lose consciousness. Kaito wasn't a medical expert or anything, but he knew that wasn't good either._

_-_

_The door was already open when they reached it. Kaito felt sick. Kokichi was laying tucked in bed, his arms out, his lesser damaged arm had several bandaid patches on his arm, covering up any cuts or scratches, and an IV connected to that arm. The other was bandaged completely, as were his knuckles. His neck and head were also bandaged, the oxygen mask on his face seemed so big compared to the rest of him._

_He looked small. Vulnerable._

. . .

When Kaito had found Kokichi, attempting to commit suicide, he had been stricken with terror, and had gotten his own slap of reality. This was what happened when he hesitated to help someone who clearly needed it. This was what happened when he was an immature dumbass who put his own fears ahead of doing what was right. Sure, Kokichi hadn't sustained any physical scars, but there were mental scars. Especially because shortly after he was admitted to the hospital, after falling into a coma, Haruto had...well...he'd hurt him. And before even knowing what he did, he'd lost his temper at the sight of Haruto.

. . .

_"I have the right to talk all I fucking want!" Haruto snapped, moving to attempt to flee. Several officers held him back, all the while Haruto resisted. Kaito felt his blood boil. He stormed closer. Haruto finally stopped, looking up at Kaito. "Oh, it's you. Kaito, tell the police they made a mistake," he hissed._

_Kaito stared at Haruto. Then, he did something he's wanted to do ever since meeting him in the cafeteria a good month ago._

_He balled his right hand into a fist and stepped back, pulling his arm back, and punched Haruto square in the face._

. . .

But then he found out what happened.

. . .

_"He's sick," one of the officers who had been flanking him shook his head, "seriously, who attempts to sexually assault a coma patient then attempts to strangle them?"_

_"He fucking what?" Miu shouted._

_"Language," an officer said to Miu firmly._

_Miu shut her mouth, then began speaking again after a moment. "He what? What did he do?"_

_"We got a call saying he was strangling a half naked coma patient," the officer responded._

_"Oh god," Miu looked sick. Kaito didn't blame her. He felt sick. Why was this happening? Kokichi's been through enough already, goddammit! He shook his head, trying to fight off the feel of nausea that was washing over him. If he had come with Miu earlier, he would have stayed, and Haruto wouldn't have attacked Kokichi. But then again...maybe, just maybe, this was the final stepping stone that they needed to get Haruto thrown in prison._

_. . ._

It was around that time, when they were visiting Kokichi, that Kaito had fully realized he'd had a crush on Kokichi. He loved him. He cared for him. It was tearing him apart from the inside, it'd been so painful seeing him so...vulnerable. He just wanted Kokichi to be awake, to be safe, to be happy. To stop going through so much hell. Enough was enough, dammit.

Kaito opened his eyes, a smile spreading across his face. God he could still remember how he confessed to Kokichi. It wasn't ideal, for sure, but it was their confession. It was their love story. And he wouldn't change the confession for the world.

. . .

_"But you're not being honest! Instead of looking at yourself through your eyes, look at yourself through my eyes!"_

_"The fuck does that even mean?!"_

_"It means I fucking like you, you fucking gremlin twink!" Kaito shouted._

_Silence._

_Kokichi and Kaito stared at eachother, both wide eyed and blushing. "You...you what?" Kokichi choked out, caught off guard._

_Kaito groaned and hid his face in his hands. "Nothing. Forget I said that. You're not awake from your coma. You're dreaming."_

_Kokichi huffed in frustration. "Well if it's just a dream, then maybe I'll stay in this fucking coma forever then so I can dream that Kaito knows I like him too because he's too much of a dumbass to know that in the real world!"_

_"What?" Kaito glared at him, clenching his fists, "I'm not a dumbass! You're a dumbass!"_

_Kokichi huffed. "Nope. It's my dream, therefore, you're the dumbass. Dumbass."_

_"Stop calling me a dumbass or else!"_

_"Or else what?"_

_"I'll fucking kiss you!"_

_"Do it, pussy, you won't."_

_Kaito growled in fury and leaned over, smashing his lips to Kokichi's. Kokichi smirked around the kiss and reciprocated it. After a couple seconds, which honestly felt like an eternity to Kokichi, the tension melted to something softer, something sweeter, gentler. Kokichi slowly wrapped his arms around Kaito's neck, his smirk melting to a content smile, relaxing._

-

_"You know! Are we dating?" Kokichi huffed._

_Kaito blinked. "Uh, yeah? Why wouldn't we be?"_

_"Cause you didn't ask. I wasn't sure."_

_Kaito rose his eyebrows. "So you want me to ask you formally to be my boyfriend?"_

_"Yes."_

_"Alright. Kokichi, my beautiful little gremlin shit, will you do the honors of being my little twink boyfriend?" Kaito asked dramatically. Kokichi let out a surprised laugh._

_"But of course."_

_"There, problem solved," Kaito rested his free hand on top of Kokichi's._

. . .

Kaito let out a laugh, his mind focused solely on the memories. Yeah, everything was definitely...special, back then. They had slowly, but surely, morphed into a more normal couple since then, even though they still argued sometimes, they still teased eachother, they both knew that they loved eachother. Besides, if they were a completely 'normal' couple, that'd be boring.

Huh. He was sounding more like Kokichi.

Not that that was a bad thing, really, he'd spent over a year with Kokichi, after all, even surprising him on his twenty first birthday with the current apartment the two shared. He wasn't even sure at the time if Kokichi wanted to move in, but to his delight and relief, Kokichi was more than happy to move in with him. And to this day, they were extremely happy.

Of course, Kaito wouldn't say that he wouldn't change their love story- there were quit a few things he would love to omit. Such as Haruto harassing Kokichi, and Kokichi attempting suicide...but everything was better. Sure, Kokichi still had nightmares about the whole ordeal, but Kaito was always there for him, holding him when he woke up sobbing, making him some overly sweet earl gray tea...and that was enough for him. As long as Kokichi didn't have to suffer in silence.

He was jolted out of his thoughts when the book in his hand slipped and plopped on the floor. He leaned over and picked it up, now noticing the time. Jesus, he'd been lost in a wave of memories. It'd already been an hour. Kokichi would be back from his lectures in another hour, so he may as well start cooking dinner. He set the book on the table, standing up and stretching, hearing the satisfying pop of his bones.

He headed to the kitchen, and decided on some spicy curry. It was one of Kokichi's favorites, and he loved spicy foods. They didn't make curry all that often, but when they did, Kokichi was always in a better mood.

Besides, the curry he made took roughly fifty minutes to cook, and a little time to prepare, so Kokichi should be home just as it was finishing.

His prediction was correct.

Kokichi came home, seemingly really tired, but perked up when the scent of curry hit his nostrils. He walked over, washing his hands as Kaito loaded up two plates. Kaito set them on the table, and Kokichi quickly joined him. "What's the occasion?" he asked, beaming. God, Kaito loved seeing him smile. But, he shook his head.

"No occasion. I just love you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm bad at extending things so I padded it out with throwbacks to Book 1 :D  
> It is usually nostalgic, or just nice, to see throwbacks to previous books anyway, I dunno about yall, but when I see it, I get really soft. But this was DEF this series LONGEST chapter, standing at a hard 3.1k words!!! :)  
> ALSO! About the ages? Kokichi is currently 21, he will be 22 in June, and Kaito is 20, he will be 21 in April.  
> I like the idea of Kaito being younger. But, because I need him to be the same grade, I hc that he skipped a grade at some point. (Yall know he's fucking smart as hell, I mean, bro, he got Straight A's in COLLEGE) So I just incorporated that here. I know I didn't ever clarify that.  
> But, now yall know! :)


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's Kaito's birthday! Everyone's preparing to throw him a party.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes. SIO has a lot of big time skips. It's because nothing of true substance is happening and I have a PLAN. I'm not gonna stretch out when shit's gonna happen, and I wouldn't know how to do that anyway.

"Shuichi's out distracting Kaito, he just texted saying they'll probably be another few hours," Kaede announced, looking at her phone. It had a pink case, and some music notes on it, "do we have everything?"

"We're short a few balloons," Rantaro replied, "we have thirty."

"What? I thought Himiko bought two packs of twenty?" Kaede whipped her head around to look at the short redhead.

Himiko fidgeted. "I did...but I need five for my magic act."

"What about the other five?" Kaede asked.

"Kokichi took them, filled them up with water and icing, and pelted them at someone's house," Himiko replied. Kokichi, who'd been helping Maki set up some streamers, turned around, scandalized.

"You bet me twenty bucks I wouldn't do it, so I did it," he accused.

Kaede sighed. "Okay, okay, enough. Kokichi, Maki, will you two go out and get some more balloons? Just ten is fine."

Maki sighed. "This is stupid. He's turning twenty one. Why does he need forty balloons?"

"Double is always better with him," Kokichi snickered, as the two left the apartment to walk to the store. The store wasn't too far away- merely a thirty minute walk. Maki looked annoyed as she brushed some of her bangs out of her eyes.

"Forty isn't even double of twenty one, it's forty two," she pointed out blandly.

"Who in their right mind would buy forty two balloon though?" Kokichi countered.

"Not the people buying two less balloons."

Kokichi snorted. As the two continued to walk, a silence befell them. It always got awkward walking with Maki, as she'd hated him the most out of everyone back when Kokichi and Kaito's friend groups argued. She'd flat out wanted him dead. Of course, Kokichi was sure that their relationship has improved, as if it hadn't, then she wouldn't tolerate walking with him now. Right?

The two arrived at the store, and headed towards the party aisle. "Let's see, there's a twenty pack, five pack..." Maki muttered, kneeling down in search of a ten pack of balloons. Kokichi stood nearby, folding his arms behind his head as he waited on her. As she looked, a man walked over, seemingly normal. But he was eyeing Maki in a way that Kokichi recognized from Haruto, back when they dated. The man reached over, and before he could lay a hand on Maki, Kokichi stepped forward, gripping his wrist.

"Don't touch her."

Maki turned around.

The man squirmed. "I was just reaching for the party plates."

"Right," Kokichi drawled, "just asking her to move over would have worked."

The man yanked his wrist out of Kokichi's hand and muttered something under his breath. Kokichi didn't catch all of it, nor did he care to. There were only a handful of people who would be this bold in public, and they were all disgusting. Nevertheless, the man left.

"...I could have handled him myself, you know," Maki muttered, moving to grip one of her pigtails, "I wouldn't have let him touch me."

Kokichi shrugged. "Sure. But it's good to have friends backs, yeah?" he tested the waters. If she reacted negatively, then his curiosity would be satisfied- she'd only be tolerating him for Kaito's sake. But she didn't. She grew quiet, a frown twisted on to her lips.

"I guess so," she finally said, "it's just...weird," she shook her head, "I'm not used to people defending me."

"You have Kaito and Tenko always looking out for you," Kokichi pointed out.

Maki pouted. "No, I mean, preventing things from happening. Kaito's too dimwitted to catch on to those things and Tenko is always too late."

"True," Kokichi didn't deny his boyfriend's stupidity.

Maki gave the very faintest hint of a smile. She looked back at the rows of balloons and something seemed to catch her eye. She reached in the shelf, grabbing a pack and stood up. "Here. They have one pack of ten balloons left."

"Nice eye," Kokichi yawned, "let's go check out and head back."

Maki didn't say anything. The two headed to the checkout line, paid for the pack, and left. As they walked, Kokichi sent a message to Kaede.

_Kokichi_

_We got the balloons! Headed home now!_

_Sent at: 3:42pm_

He got a response very quickly.

_Kaede_

_That's great! We have everything else just about ready. The cake is ready to be frosted and we'll bring the presents out!_

_Sent at: 3:43pm_

Kokichi pocketed his phone after reading her response. As they continued walking, Kokichi felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He paused and turned around, that eerie feeling of being watched more prominent than before. It'd been happening since the start of the new year, and he hated it. He wished so desperately that whatever was going on would stop.

"What's the matter?" Maki asked, stopping when she realized Kokichi had stopped.

"Nothing. It's nothing. I-" Kokichi was cut off by loud laughter. The two turned and saw two guys walking over to them. One was the same man from the store, but he had someone with him.

"Well," the one from the store, who Kokichi was dubbing as Ash, since his hair was an ugly ashy color, "look what we have here."

"Two cuties just wondering around," his friend, who Kokichi silently dubbed as Grease because of his overly greased hair...at least, Kokichi hoped it was just grease and not from lack of hygiene, said with a smirk.

"Go on and take the little rat boy," Ash said, nodding to him, "I'm more interested in the girl."

Grease licked his lips and stalked forward. Kokichi took an involuntary step back. Before Grease could lay a single finger on him, there was a flash next to him, and suddenly, he was pushed back. He stumbled slightly, and blinked, genuinely caught off guard.

Maki stood in front of Kokichi, the bag of the pack of balloons still in one hand, while her other was gripping Grease's throat.

"Maki..." Kokichi muttered, blinking his shock away.

"What the hell are you doing? Let go of him! I swear if you don't let go of him, I'll make you wish you were dead!" Ash shouted, storming closer.

Maki glanced at him from the corner of her eye and threw Grease down, moving to deliver a swift round kick to the side of Ash's face. Kokichi had no idea she was even that flexible. Nevertheless, the two were down. Maki stood over him, unfazed.

"What the hell are you?" Ash grunted, sitting up and rubbing his bruising jaw.

"I'm no one you should be concerned about. If you touch me, or if you touch _him_ ," Maki motioned to Kokichi, still standing back in awe, "then I will make you wish you were never born. Are we clear?" her face darkened, and for a moment, Kokichi envisioned that if Maki was holding a knife instead of a bag of balloons, she would have looked like a professional assassin. Her glare was truly terrifying, especially if you knew her strength.

Ash and Grease seemed to understand instantly, and both of them fled without a single word.

"That was awesome!" Kokichi cheered once they were gone, a huge grin on his face, "man, I can see why Kaito keeps you around!"

Maki spared him a dry look. "I can't say the same thing about you," she replied, but the corners of her lips lifted slightly. Kokichi laughed and the two began walking again.

Yeah. They were friends.

-

Once the two got back to the apartment, they used the balloon machine to blow the last ten balloons up before tying them and letting them go. Rantaro glanced at his phone. "Guys, Shuichi said he can't stall Kaito any longer. They're heading back. They'll be here in three minutes."

"Okay, okay, get into position everyone!" Kaede called.

Miu snickered. "That's what she said."

"Miu, keep your vulgar comments to yourself!" Kaede barked, resulting in Miu letting out a terrified squeal. Angie pat her back and everyone got into their position, waiting. Kaede flicked the light off and felt her way to her own spot.

The next few minutes were agonizingly slow. Eventually though, Kokichi heard footsteps coming up the metallic stairs, and the sound of keys being inserted in the keyhole. A moment later, the door opened, and the light flicked on.

"Happy birthday, Kaito!" Everyone chorused.

Kaito stared at them, smiling stupidly and shaking his head. "You guys are predictable."

"Predictable?" Kaede looked flabbergasted.

"We did this for Kichi's birthday already. I knew what you guys were up to."

"Well _jeez_ , Kaito," Kokichi huffed, standing up from his spot next to Maki, "at least pretend to be surprised!"

"I'm not surprised, but I'm really happy you guys took the time to do all this for me," Kaito explained.

Maki rolled her eyes. "Right, because you have the biggest brain out of all of us."

Kaito spluttered as Kokichi snickered and offered a high five, which Maki, much less enthusiastically, returned. Kaito squinted. "Hold up, since when did you two get so close?" he asked. In response, Kokichi and Maki just shared a look, and grinned. Well, Kokichi grinned, and Maki just played with one of her pigtails.

"What'cha talkin' about, dear Kaito? We've always been two peas in a pod!"

"Bitch," Miu shouted, "no you haven't! Maki you better not be trying to usurp my role as Big Sis!" she pointed with an accusatory glare.

"Shut it."

"Eek!"

Kaito scratched the back of his head, a baffled look on his face. "Well, I'm not arguing. It's great to see you both get along! Best birthday present I could ask for!" he threw an arm around both Maki and Kokichi's shoulders, grinning.

"Don't say that when you haven't opened your gifts," Rantaro tutted.

"Which we will get to after we have cake," Kiibo spoke up.

Everyone had Kaito sit down, and Angie brought out the cake she decorated. She was the artist of the group, after all, she'd successfully managed to decorate the cake like a galaxy. Kaito's eyes lit up when he saw the cake. "Oh, sweet! It looks great!" he enthused.

Angie giggled. "Atua was the one who decorated it for you, Kaito."

"How nice of the handsome god..." Himiko sighed.

"Ah...right," Kaito said, blinking as Angie set the cake in front of him. After an awkward chorus of the happy birthday song, Kaito blew the candles, and cake was swiftly passed out, before they got to the presents.

Everyone had gotten Kaito something space related. A book, a movie, a teddy bear- Miu had even gotten him a dildo with stars on it. How she found one, Kokichi had no idea. Him, on the other hand...well, his present was in the bedroom. Rantaro, Kaede, Maki, and Tenko had all helped him with it that morning.

The party went on, with cheesy board games, dumb party games, and lots of chatting. It was draining. Kokichi wasn't sure if he'd ever get used to being friends with so many people all at once.

But Kaito was happy, so that was enough for him.

Not that he'd _ever_ say that out loud.

By the time everyone left, Kokichi was flopped over on the couch, tired. Kaito sat next to him, his slightly calloused hand moving to his head. "You good?" he questioned. Kokichi replied in a soft noise of acknowledgement. Kaito sighed, but he seemed content. "Hey, Kichi."

"Hm?"

"Thanks."

"Huh? What for?" Kokichi opened his eyes and peeked at his tall boyfriend.

"Everything."

"Jeez, you're a fucking sap."

"And you are completely devoid of any charm."

"Dick."

"I know you are, but what am I?"

"...You did not just use that."

"Maybe I did!" Kaito huffed.

Kokichi sat up, amusement dancing in his violet eyes. "You didn't. You fucking didn't. That's something a kindergartner would say."

"Maybe I am-!" Kaito paused, blinking, "wait, no, I didn't mean that!"

Kokichi burst out laughing, moving to rest his forehead on Kaito's shoulder. "God, what the fuck? You're so stupid."

Kaito grumbled under his breath but brought Kokichi in for a hug. "Well, you're stupid for liking me."

"Solidarity stupidity?"

Kaito rolled his eyes and got up. "Whatever, I'm gonna head to bed. I can clean up in the morning," he said, yawning right after he spoke. Kokichi got up excitedly, and followed him to the room. He watched as Kaito opened their door, freezing. There were glow in the dark wall star stickers everywhere. Kokichi hugged Kaito from behind, nestling his face into his side.

"You like it?"

"I- fuck, Kichi," Kaito breathed, "I love it."

"Good! Because it was such a pain in the ass to put all these up!" Kokichi whined, relaxing when Kaito ran his hand through his hair. Kaito gave him a smile that had Kokichi holding his breath for a minute, before Kaito leaned over and pressed his lips to Kokichi's. He pulled away, his lilac eyes gleaming.

"You're...you're still a fucking sap," Kokichi said weakly.

Kaito laughed and swooped Kokichi up into his arms, and threw the two of them on to the bed to cuddle under the makeshift stars, until they passed out.

~-~

Elsewhere, a figure stared at the apartment of Kokichi and Kaito, letting out a frustrated sigh. They hadn't anticipated that they'd throw Kaito a birthday party. It ruined the plans for the day. _Oh well_ , they thought, it just meant that it wasn't time. _Not yet._

"Soon, Kokichi Ouma...." they whispered. They would just have to catch him alone, in a secluded area. There weren't a whole bunch of opportunities. They'd been watching him for some time now, and they had a really good feel of his everyday schedule. Not just his, but Kaito's too. Given, if things played out nicely, they'll have Kokichi within a few weeks. If the worst happens, it'll be another month, two months tops. They licked their lips.

_"You will be mine."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! Now that we're on chapter 4, I'm going back to "if this doesn't get enough support I'm not gonna update" which I do have faith it may...  
> But it seems before I wrote SIO, the Oumota tag was SO SLOW...but when I published, everyone decided to start publishing things and it keeps SIO from being at the top which prevents a lot of people seeing it's been updated.  
> Yeah I'm fuckin petty as fuck about that.  
> I haven't been having a good week.  
> But that's not important! Comments and kudos keep me woke


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kokichi's a good friend, he swears it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahahahaha...I hate my writing.

Kokichi waited outside the science building, where Kaito was still in his final class, planetary geology. He hummed to himself, leaning against the brick building, looking at his phone. Kaito should be out within ten minutes. He'd arrived way too early. It was a Friday in early May, meaning school was going to be over in a couple weeks, and finals were popping up. And before Kaito could go home and study, Kokichi was determined to bring Kaito out to eat lunch and relax a little.

"Oh, Kokichi!" A voice sounded surprised, "are you waiting on Kaito too?"

It was Shuichi. He was a major in criminal justice, and took other classes. One more year, and he'd become a full detective. He was another friend who, somehow, got straight A's. He was a fucking genius, honestly. It was also probably because he was raised by his uncle, who was the best detective in the prefecture. And among the top five best in the country.

Kokichi wouldn't admit it...but he had faith Shuichi would easily become the best detective in the country. Or at least the second best. He knew the current best was a woman named...Kyoko Kirigiri? She lived across the country though.

"Hey, Shumai!" Kokichi chirped, "yep! I'm gonna make Kaito take me to a really fancy restaurant, where we're gonna have hot steamy sex underneath the table, where no one can see us because of the long tablecloth!"

Shuichi, who was walking towards Kokichi, slowed down considerably. "Oh..." he said, both looking and sounding awkward, "I...I see?" he blinked, obviously confused. Kokichi let out a mischievous laugh.

"But that was a lie."

"Ah." Shuichi rubbed the back of his head.

Kokichi tilted his head to the side. "So? What about you? Why're you here?"

Shuichi flushed. "I was just gonna bring Kaito to a cafe to study with him."

"You mean like...a study date?" Kokichi feigned a gasp, "you're trying to steal my beloved Kaito away from me, aren't you?" he demanded, crocodile tears springing to his violet eyes. Shuichi waved his hands frantically, a panicked expression on his face.

"No! No! You got it all wrong!"

It was so easy to mess with Shuichi.

"Waaaah!" Kokichi yelled, the crocodile tears falling down his face, "you're so mean! I can't believe it! I trusted you, Shuichi!"

"Will you shut up already?" A new voice cut in. It was Maki, walking over, her deep red eyes flashing in annoyance. Kokichi stopped immediately. He huffed.

"Fine. But only because my bestie said so."

Maki rolled her eyes. "I'm not your 'bestie'," she replied coolly, "we're friends, but we're nothing special."

"Ouch, that's cold," Kokichi snickered, "so why are you here, Maki roll?"

"Don't fucking call me that. And I'm here for the study meeting with Shuichi and Kaito," Maki muttered.

Kokichi put a hand to his chest in mock offense. "Wow. Everyone's going out with my boyfriend except me. What a cruel, cruel world this is." He shook his head with a pout. Shuichi played with his bangs, as if they'd hide his face.

"W-well, what about you, Kokichi?" he questioned.

"I already told you! We're going out to dinner to have sex under the table!"

"You also said that was a lie."

"Oops, you got me."

Shuichi sighed.

"Alright, alright, if you're really dying to know, I'll tell you," Kokichi cackled, "I'm gonna take him to dinner. He can't spend all of his time studying or his stupid small brain will spontaneously combust. I mean, really, an idiot like him can't afford to let his last few brain cells go."

"Excuse me?" Kokichi was suddenly in a light choke hold, and the familiar scent of pine and fire hit his nose.

"O-oh, Kaito, you're out early!" Kokichi laughed, a hint of nervousness to his voice.

Kaito snorted. "Yeah, the teacher let us idiots out first," he started to noogie Kokichi's head, "you know, because we're so stupid and small brained."

Kokichi struggled against him, whining loudly when his hair got messed up. "Oww, Kaito okay, okay! Let go," he complained.

After a few extra seconds, Kaito let him go, smiling almost smugly as Kokichi huffed and fixed his hair, pouting. "Jeez, Kaito, you're such a bully. I didn't even do anything to you, and yet you hurt me in such a vile way."

Kaito rolled his eyes. "Right. Anyway...you said something about dinner?"

"Did I?" Kokichi smiled slyly, "or was I talking about something else?"

Shuichi sighed. "Don't have sex under the table, Kokichi."

"What? But I'm gay, I have to suggest weird places to have sex!"

"You're as annoying as ever," Maki mumbled.

Kaito let out a confused laugh. "Alright, alright. Hey, Shuichi, Maki roll, you both should join us! The more the merrier, right?" he beamed. Shuichi and Maki exchanged a look of hesitance. So, Kaito continued. "We can still study afterwards. Don't worry, you're not interrupting us."

"Says you," Kokichi sniffled.

Kaito nudged him. "Come on, we weren't gonna do anything."

"Maybe I was planning on riding your big di-"

" _We weren't gonna do anything_."

Kokichi started cackling as Kaito flushed, and Shuichi sighed. "I mean, I guess we could, as long as we're studying afterwards," he amended, "is that alright, Maki?" he asked. Maki sighed, relenting.

"Fine."

The four of them walked over to Kaito's truck, and as they got to the parking lot, Kokichi ran ahead. "Shot gun!"

"It doesn't matter who sits in the passenger seat...you're such a child," Maki sounded annoyed, but there was the ghost of a smile on her face. Kokichi turned to stick his tongue out at her.

"I know you are, but what am I?" Kokichi shot Kaito a teasing look after he said that, and Kaito flushed in embarrassment while Maki rose an eyebrow.

"Really?" She deadpanned.

"Kaito was the one who said it first! On his birthday!" Kokichi pointed a finger at the tallest male, who started sputtering.

"H-hey! Don't sell me out!" Kaito complained.

Kokichi started laughing. "Really? You're not gonna deny it? Kaito, I'm a liar! You could have said you didn't and they would have believed you!"

"Fuck!"

"It's alright, Kaito," Shuichi reached over and pat his arm, "you'll live."

"Says you," Kaito grumbled.

"Come on, guys, you're so slow," Kokichi whined as they stopped at the car. After unlocking the doors, Maki and Shuichi climbed in the back seat, Kokichi got in the passenger seat, and Kaito got in the drivers seat.

"So? Where to?" Kaito asked.

Maki shrugged, and Shuichi went silent, biting his lip, looking unsure. Seeing as how neither one of Kaito's sidekicks knew where to go, Kokichi spoke up for them. "How about Hope's Peak Cafe? They have amazing tea, coffee, and other desserts."

"Alright! Sounds good! You guys good with that?" Kaito asked his sidekicks, buckling up.

"Sure," Shuichi replied.

"I don't care," Maki sighed.

"Hope's Peak Cafe it is," Kaito started the engine, and once everyone was buckled, he began driving. After a minute, he spoke again. "Where was it located again? I have the other stores nearby in mind but I don't remember the streets."

"It's off the Freeway and Monophanie lane."

"Ohh, right, right," Kaito muttered, turning his turn signal on and making a left turn.

Eventually, the group arrived at the cafe, and headed inside, each ordering their own drink. Maki got an unsweetened tea, Shuichi got black coffee, Kaito got a coffee with whipped cream and a cupcake, and Kokichi got a extra sweet bubble tea with two cookies.

They sat at the two couches near the corner, looking around.

"It's really interesting decor," Shuichi said wryly, looking at the odd bear mascot for the cafe. It was half white, and half black, with the black side's eye being red.

"I heard the Enoshima's own this cafe," Kokichi piped up.

"What? Like, the famous Junko Enoshima's parents?" Shuichi asked, surprised.

"Yeah," Kaito chipped in, "her parents own this place, they let her make the mascot when she was really little. And because they were the owners, they got connections and she became a child model, and now she's a fashion magazine model."

"Didn't she recently turn twenty four?" Maki asked.

"Yeah, but she's definitely in her prime," Kaito beamed.

Kokichi scowled and smacked his arm. Kaito winced a little and muttered under his breath.

"Is everything tasting alright? Can I get you anything else?" An employee asked. She wore the Hope's Peak uniform, along with a headband, though it did nothing to keep her hair from falling in her face. Her name tag read _Kirumi Tojo._

"It's great! And we're good, thanks!" Kaito smiled at her. Kirumi smiled back, looking pleased with herself, as she headed back to the counter.

Kokichi huffed. "She was totally flirting with you, Kaito."

"She was doing her job, Kokichi," Shuichi corrected.

"She may not get a lot of compliments," Maki suggested.

Kokichi grumbled and laid his head on Kaito's shoulder. Kaito's eyes widened and he slowly smirked. "Kichi, were you jealous?"

"Why would I be jealous over an employee doing her job?"

"Holy shit, you _were_ jealous."

"I was _not_!" Kokichi glared at him.

"Just like you're not overreacting?" Kaito looked beyond amused. Kokichi huffed again and sipped his tea.

As the atmosphere lightened, the four talked about anything and everything that came to mind. Kokichi nearly let it be known that Rantaro was planning on purposing to Shuichi, but stopped himself, since Shuichi was sitting not even five feet away from him. Kokichi felt relaxed as he listened to Kaito go on about how his professor did this and that, and how he responded. He closed his eyes.

And then his phone buzzed in his pocket.

With a sigh, Kokichi reached in to his pocket and opened the text. It was from Miu.

_Miu_

_Kokichi get your skinny ass to my apartment ASAP! I need you right now._

_Sent at: 4:55pm_

_Kokichi_

_lmao are you in heat?_

_Sent at: 4:56pm_

_Miu_

_BIUCH_

_Sent at: 4:56pm_

_Miu_

_*BITHC_

_Sent at: 4:56pm_

_Miu_

_**BITCH_

_Sent at: 4:56pm_

_Kokichi_

_Take your time, sweetie._

_Sent at: 4:57pm_

_Miu_

_Just get over here omfg_

_Sent at: 5:00pm_

Kokichi sighed and sent a quick 'kk' before turning his phone on standby and turning to the other three. "Welp, it's been fun, but duty calls! And by 'duty' I don't mean my job. I mean a literal piece of sh-"

"Miu texted?" Maki cut in.

"Yep! She needs me, so..." Kokichi stood up. Kaito stood up too.

"Do you need a ride?" He asked.

Kokichi waved him off. "Nah, sit down, you guys have fun studying. It's not too far from here."

"It's an hour long walk."

Kokichi shrugged. "I'll be fine. I'll text you when I get there."

"Okay..." Kaito sat back down and gently pulled Kokichi in, giving him a small peck on the lips. "Love you."

"Bleh, you're too sappy," Kokichi complained, walking out the door.

Once he left and was out of sight from the cafe, he sent Kaito a text. A simple, small, _love you too._

He didn't doubt Kaito smiled.

. . .

Once Kokichi arrived at the old apartment building he used to live at before he moved in with Kaito, he went inside. He lived here, and Miu lived a floor or two above him. They'd once tried rooming together at the very start of college...but ultimately decided it was best not to share an apartment. He sent Kaito a quick text, letting him know he'd arrived at the apartments fine. Just as he sent the text, his phone died. Well, whatever.

He opened the door to Miu's apartment.

"What the fuck is up, pig bitch?"

Miu jumped from her spot on the couch. "Kokichi! Thank god you're here!" she groaned, looking distressed, "I have a problem."

"Yeah?" Kokichi sat on one of her chairs by the couch. "What's up?"

"Okay so I didn't wanna talk about this over text, or phone call, but...well, it's about Angie."

"Kay. So?"

Miu fidgeted. "She wants to try anal."

"Okay?"

"With her paint brushes."

"...Oh."

"Yeah, _oh_!" Miu huffed, "I'm not comfortable with her brushes going up my ass!"

Kokichi stared at her like she was an idiot. "You made me walk an hour away from my boyfriend to tell me this? For fucks sakes, Miu, you useless lesbian bitch, just tell her that you're not comfortable with it."

"Yeah but..." Miu deflated, "remember my New Year resolutions? I wanted to try everything sexual. This is included."

Kokichi sighed, rolling his eyes. "No one keeps those resolutions, Miu. Don't force yourself into something you're not comfortable with just because of some stupid New Year resolution bullshit."

"But Angie wants-"

"If Angie loves you, she'll understand," Kokichi cut in.

Miu squirmed. "...Alright. I'll tell her no. I'll take her to the sex shop and get a dildo or something. She can use my discount."

Kokichi snorted. "Oh yeah, employees get a discount on everything. What are you gonna get her?"

"I don't know, maybe one of those twenty inch dildos?" Miu shrugged.

Kokichi snorted. "Okay. Well, you have fun with that, you slutty bitch."

"Thanks, I knew I could count on you, you little shota shit," Miu replied affectionately, "I still have a bottle of panta in the fridge. You can take it for the road back to your apartment."

"Oh fuck yeah, I knew there was a reason I came here," Kokichi leapt up and headed to her kitchen as Miu sputtered out a high pitched " _bitch_?"

Kokichi wasn't at Miu's for very long. Not worth the trip by foot. But, he supposed, Miu was happy, and he was fine. It was getting a little late by the time he actually left. It was past sunset, but not quite night, though definitely dark.

As Kokichi walked, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He sped up, biting his tongue. He was still thirty minutes away from his apartment with Kaito, and he wasn't even sure if Kaito was home yet or if he was still studying. He made a turn. If he cut through this street, he'd save five minutes. Of course, the street had large wooden gates around the houses, so it was almost the same as cutting through an alley way.

Then he heard it. Footsteps. They were getting louder, and the speed was picking up.

He turned around, seeing someone running right for him, with something in their hand, raising it.

Kokichi screamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok first off I meant to update this chapter long ago so my apologies for that...  
> Secondly, I've been,,, really busy, and it's been affecting my mental health and sleeping schedule. Like it's all completely fucked up. This stress is also because my stupid fucking city has the coronavirus and we're getting slammed, but HAHA Texas right?? Nothing's being shut down in my town because everyone's a FUCKING MORON. On the bright side, due to me working at my job for over a year (part time) and never using my vacation hours, I get paid leave. So I'll still be making income until they do shut down. Which is good because if I get the coronavirus? I'd die from it. No doubts.  
> But thank you all SO MUCH for your patience and understanding! Keep on supporting this story please and thank you!!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaito waits for Kokichi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow so...quarantine amirite

Kaito got decided to head home an hour after Kokichi sent his message saying he got to Miu's apartment. Normally, he, Shuichi, and Maki studied for at least four hours, but it was already starting to get late, the cafe closed at eight, and the workers were starting to look a little antsy. He got home roughly fifteen minutes after seven, and noticed Kokichi wasn't home. Well, it was Miu, sometimes she takes time when she needs something. Besides, Kokichi would send him a text when he left. Kaito decided to study for another hour before starting to make actual dinner.

He flopped on to the couch, opening his bag, and took out his planetary geology text book. They'd just gone over some new material, so Kaito wanted to make sure he got the perfect hang of it before they'd be quizzed next week. In three weeks, their third year of college was going to end. He had to be prepared. He wasn't going to accept anything less than the best.

An hour came and went, and once he noticed it was after eight, he memorized his page before shutting the book and standing up and stretching, grunting when he heard his bones pop back into place.

Kokichi still wasn't back.

Well, whatever, more than just a few times, Miu would need Kokichi and he'd take hours to get back home. Kaito knew Kokichi was always exhausted on those days, so he'd be completely exhausted by the time he got back, even if Miu gave him a ride home.

So, like the good boyfriend he was, he decided to make Kokichi's all time favorite food.

Napolitan, with freshly grilled peppers chopped up with it. Kokichi loved spicy food, after all.

It was a spaghetti dish, and Kaito's grandma just so happened to be one of the best cooks ever, when he found out Kokichi's favorite food was napolitan, he quickly got his grandma's recipe, and cooked it for him. The look of awe and pure joy on Kokichi's face made learning how to make it completely worth it.

It didn't take him but half an hour to cook, alongside an extra few minutes chopping the jalapenos and other veggies and grilling them.

He set two plates on the table, and sat down.

Kaito waited.

Twenty minutes pass, and he was still waiting. He sighed and got up, moving to put leftovers in the fridge for now, before heading back to the table and deciding to just eat his dinner. It was cold- of course it was, but the taste was still amazing. The cold food didn't bother Kaito, though it may frustrate Kokichi. He could always heat it up in the microwave though.

After five more minutes of waiting, Kaito got some plastic wrap and wrapped Kokichi's plate up with it before putting it in the fridge. Even if Kokichi came home in a bad mood, he'll be happy seeing his favorite food. Kaito loved the look of excitement and joy when he sees napolitan.

He decided then to just take a shower. He felt gross after sitting in a class of sixty students with a good chunk of them sneezing and sniffling and coughing.

After his shower, he got in a white shirt and some galaxy themed pajama pants, and some socks.

Kokichi still wasn't home. He glanced at the time. It was half after nine.

Okay. Miu was a needy bitch. It happened. Still, Kaito couldn't help but get a sinking feeling in his gut.

Kaito sat back on the couch and re-opened his book. Planetary Geology would be a good distraction.

He didn't get very far though. He was anxious about Kokichi. He groaned and reached for his phone, pulling it out before shooting Kokichi a quick text.

_Kaito_

_Hey, you good? Miu giving you a hard time?_

_Sent at: 9:54pm_

No answer. Kaito began to send more messages.

_Kaito_

_What'd she need this time?_

_Sent at: 9:59pm_

_Kaito_

_Pls don't tell me it was help choosing another dildo for Angie_

_Sent at: 10:00pm_

_Kaito_

_Remember when she asked you for help then? She asked you what size you'd use because Angie's only an inch or two taller than you_

_Sent at: 10:02pm_

_Kaito_

_You helped her get a fourteen inch dildo after that_

_Sent at: 10:03pm_

_Kaito_

_Did she ever use it???_

_Sent at: 10:06pm_

_Kaito_

_Does she even still have it???_

_Sent at: 10:10pm_

Kaito sighed. Nothing. He dropped his phone, and gripped his book tightly. Why wasn't Kokichi answering? He knew that Miu kept him late sometimes, but he'd still answer his phone. Maybe the battery died? It was certainly possible. It was also possible that Kokichi just fell asleep. He's done that also. It'd given Kaito a heart attack the first few times that it happened, but it's happened. Hell, during those times, Kokichi ended up making fun of him and calling him a worrywart.

Smiling a little, Kaito went back to his planetary geology book.

He managed to get immersed into it before he stopped to yawn. He glanced at the time, doing a double take. It was twenty minutes after eleven. He glanced at his phone. No responses. Kaito shut his book again and got up, stretching his sore muscles once again. Maybe exercising would do him some good? He used to take Shuichi and Maki out to exercise at night everyday back in high school.

He moved to the middle of the small living room and got down. He started off with a hundred push ups.

Then he did a hundred sit ups.

A hundred squats.

A hundred jumping jacks.

Kaito even went to the hallway closet an brought out the mini fifty pound dumbbells and did one hundred crunches with them both. One in each hand.

He was extremely tired and sweaty by the time he was finished. He went to the kitchen and got a large glass of water and chugged it down. As he refilled his second cup, he glanced at the time. Five minutes after midnight. He chugged the water down before setting it on the counter.

He walked back to his phone, picking it up and sent Miu a message.

_Kaito_

_Hey, did Kokichi fall asleep at your place? I can pick him up if you need me to._

_Sent at: 12:06am_

Kaito waited. Miu may have fallen asleep. She always talked about how beauties like her needed their beauty sleep to keep up their flawless looks. But a moment later, it was shown as read. Kaito saw the three dots and waited, having a feeling that she'd just sneer at him, say something on the lines of _'share the little shota shit with the rest of us'_ or even degrade him with _'what, did you need him so you can fuck his tiny ass out?'_ or something along those lines. He didn't expect what she actually sent.

_Miu_

_What the fuck are you talking about?? Kokichi went home hours ago. He left at like 6:45_

_Sent at: 12:09am_

Kaito's breath stopped. His eyes widened, and he dropped his phone, not moving, not even when his phone buzzed multiple times, likely from Miu. He didn't move when she started to call him either. He remained frozen, the worry he felt earlier exploding into absolute _terror._ With a start, he remembered something...

. . .

_"Hey, are you okay?" Kaito asked from behind him, moving to drop his jacket on Kokichi's shoulders, "you're gonna catch a cold."_

_"Yeah, I just..." Kokichi inhaled, "feel like something's off."_

_Kaito frowned. "Maybe you're paranoid? I mean I hate to say it, but Haruto's trial was last year. You're still not completely over what happened. It's normal."_

_"Yeah," Kokichi breathed a sigh, watching his breath form in the chilly night, "you're right. Even last year, seeing Haruto after being separated from him for two years was bad. I'll get used to the normal life soon enough."_

. . .

Kokichi had said he felt like something was off. Was he being...stalked? Suddenly, his behavior the past few months, ever since the New Year's party made perfect sense, even him asking if he could take Kaito's truck. Kaito's breathing began to quicken. He needed to file of police report. He needed to report Kokichi as missing. He needed to get Shuichi and his uncle to help find Kokichi. They were detectives, they could help. Who? Who would want to hurt Kokichi though?

What if he was..?

The very thought of Kokichi dying made his whole world come crashing down on him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter sucked balls. But I'm following the procedure I did with WITD. Every 2 chapters, Kaito gets a chapter. Yes, yes, this was short. Shortest in this little series history at a slammin 1.4k words. But what else could I write?? :/


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ouma wakes. All is revealed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made a discovery. In the JPN version, Hiro Shimono is Kokichi's voice actor, and Ryokei Kimura is Kaito's voice actor, yeah?  
> Well. They play as two characters in another fandom of mine who got a duet together. I just found out about Kaito's VA being one of em and wow I was shook. Very shook.  
> https://cs-cz.facebook.com/UtapuriMajiLoveLegendStar/videos/1187526207979784/  
> I can't unhear it.

Kokichi let out a low groan as he slowly regained consciousness. He blinked, black spots dancing in his vision. Where...where exactly was he? He moved to rub his eyes, or his head since it was absolutely pounding, but he quickly found that he couldn't. He blinked back the spots and looked over at his wrists. They were tied up, bound to a head board of a bed, and upon trying to move, he found his ankles were bound as well, his legs spread.

Actually...where were most of his clothes?

He was only in a pair of red boxers. His shirt? Gone. His pants? Gone. His scarf? Gone.

Panic finally began to settle in.

Why was he here? What happened? He squeezed his eyes shut as the memory began surfacing back.

. . .

_As Kokichi walked, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He sped up, biting his tongue. He was still thirty minutes away from his apartment with Kaito, and he wasn't even sure if Kaito was home yet or if he was still studying. He made a turn. If he cut through this street, he'd save five minutes. Of course, the street had large wooden gates around the houses, so it was almost the same as cutting through an alley way._

_Then he heard it. Footsteps. They were getting louder, and the speed was picking up._

_He turned around, seeing someone running right for him, with something in their hand, raising it._

_Kokichi screamed._

_The stranger, who was holding a fucking knife, brought the knife down. Kokichi threw himself out of the way, landing in the street, scraping the palms of his hands and sending stinging pain up his knees. The man, who was wearing a hoodie, so that plus the fact it was getting dark, Kokichi couldn't see his face, turned to him, raising the knife again. Kokichi flung himself to the side as the man swung down._

_He had to run. Now._

_Kokichi staggered to his feet, and without looking back, he took off running. The man chased after him. Kokichi's mind raced as he ran, passing by trees and shrubs. He caught sight of a bike laying against one of the small trees. Kokichi glanced behind him. The man had to have been at least ten feet behind him._

_Without stopping, Kokichi grabbed the bike and practically threw it behind him. He heard the man let out a grunt and faintly heard the thud of him falling._

_Theoretically, Kokichi knew he could have got on the bike and rode off and he'd have a way better chance of escaping. But he hadn't ridden a bike since before Kazuro died. And that had been with training wheels. So, he would have been caught by the man if he had stopped and got on and tried to ride it._

_If he had known how to ride a bike then maybe he could have gotten away. His late father Soichiro really failed him as a parent._

_Whatever. Kokichi gained speed and glanced behind him. The man was getting up and, as if he hadn't fallen at all, began charging at Kokichi._

_Kokichi made a sharp turn and saw the front of the houses of the street he'd been walking on. He ran ahead to one of the house, banging on the door._

_"Help! Help me! Someone's after me!" He screamed. There was no answer, but the blinds on the window moved a little, as if peeking outside before they dropped closed. For a second, Kokichi got hope that they were coming, but the window was five feet from the door, and no one was opening it._

_"Asshole!" Kokichi shouted, just as the man rounded the corner and ran at him. Kokichi slammed a fist against the door and ran. The man was catching up, and Kokichi was tiring._

_He didn't even have time to stop at other houses. He made as much ruckus as he could, letting out yells of "help", hoping, praying that someone would open their goddamn door and call the damn police or something._

_Turns out the people in this neighborhood either have no fucking empathy._

_Kokichi started to run to the next street, noting the only way to the next street, which was a dead end, was through an alley way. It was large, big enough for cars to drive through. Having no choice, he ran down the alley._

_He ran roughly thirty feet before he ended up tripping over something. He cried out as he fell, wincing in pain. He struggled to get to his feet. Once he did, he managed to take one step before strong arms wrapped around him tightly, lifting him up and carrying him back. Kokichi kicked his legs wildly, thrashing around._

_"No! Let go! Someone, help!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, terror gripping at his heart._

_In the next moment, a blunt object slammed on the back of his head. Once. Twice. Three times._

_And then...total darkness._

_. . ._

Kokichi started trembling. That's right. He was being chased by that man. And he was ultimately caught. But why hadn't anyone come out? Why hadn't anyone helped him? He knew they could hear him, even if only faintly.

Okay...okay, he had to calm down. Try to calm down. He took a deep, shaky breath, and finally surveyed his surroundings.

Other than a singular light bulb hanging from the middle of the room, there wasn't much light. It wasn't dark enough to not see everything, but it was definitely dark enough to scare Kokichi. He was on a bed against the wall, and, from his perspective, it was on the right side of the room. Directly across from him was a metallic table with a large box on it. It didn't have a label, so Kokichi had no idea what was inside.

In the far left corner of the room, he saw...was it boxes? They had a tarp over them, so Kokichi wasn't sure what was under those either.

Well, in any case, Kokichi knew it wasn't good. Why would it be? There were boxes in a near empty room that he'd been bound up in after being kidnapped! Of fucking course it'd be bad! But what could he do? He had no idea who even kidnapped him. Or why. What were this man's motives? Why him in particular?

Faintly, he heard a door open, and footsteps coming...down some stairs?

Ah. He was in a basement. How fucking cliche.

The man turned to him once he got down. Kokichi desperately squeezed his eyes shut, hoping the man would see he's not awake and just leave so he can think about how he could escape. No such luck. The man walked over to him and _slapped_ him.

"Open your fucking eyes. I know you're awake."

_No way..._

Kokichi slowly opened his eyes.

_Is that..?_

Once his eyes adjusted again, he could clearly make out the facial features of the man who'd kidnapped him.

"Takuro Emon?!" Kokichi gasped.

Takuro merely smirked at him. "Hey. Long time no see, huh, Kokichi?"

"But...I thought...you were..." Kokichi stammered.

. . .

_Takuro didn't say anything. He glared a terrifying death glare at all of them. Or, more specifically, Kokichi. Or was that Kaito's imagination? He gently tugged Kokichi back to sit down._

_-_

_"No! That's not fair! You heard the lawyer, he's one of the best there is!" Takuro blurted out, standing up._

_"Mr. Emon, I recommend you sit down. I said the case is closed," the judge said harshly, "if you do not comply, I will have you escorted out."_

_"I spent thousands on that lawyer! My nephew did what had to be done!" Takuro ignored him. Itsuko tried to hush him, looking scared, her eyes teary. Haruto was lead out in cuffs, never to be seen again, his face twisted in anger._

_A couple officers tried to escort the furious man out, but he shoved one to head to the judge, only to be tackled by the officers. Takuro fought tooth and nail, but there were too many officers, and each were stronger than him._

_"Mr. Emon! I gave you a warning, you're old enough to know that kind of behavior is unacceptable! You are sentenced to jail for one year." The judge sounded annoyed and tired at this point. Takuro all but shrieked as he was forcibly removed, leaving Itsuko behind to cry._

. . .

"Arrested? Yeah. I was in jail. For a year. Because of you," Takuro snarled. Kokichi swallowed the lump that was forming in his throat.

"I didn't get you arrested. You brought that upon yourself. You should have stayed silent and you wouldn't have-!"

Another slap. On the same cheek. His left cheek was stinging beyond belief. Takuro was strong, it hurt. Takuro glared down at him, hatred clear in his eyes. "Don't talk back to me. In case you've forgotten, it's you who's the one tied and bound up here. And you're the one who got my nephew sent to prison!"

"He did that himself," Kokichi said, his voice shaking, "if he hadn't snuck into my hospital room-"

"Liar!" Takuro shouted, "you did this to him! You did it! It was your fault! You ruined my entire family. When I was in jail, my wife Itsuko filed divorce papers. It's because of you my wife left me, and that my nephew is in prison! You ruined everything, Kokichi Ouma, and I swear to god I will make you wish you were dead!" Takuro seethed, his electric blue eyes glimmered in absolute fury, his jaw clenched.

"You turned Haruto into the man he is now," Kokichi whispered, "you ruined it all yourself."

Pain was suddenly flaring up in his ribs. He gasped and choked, letting out a cry. Takuro had punched his ribs, and he was very positive that at least three or four were broken from that singular punch alone. Fear settled in as Takuro leaned in close.

"You have some serious guts to talk back to me, despite the position you're in. I can see why Haruto was so invested in you. I am going to enjoy breaking you," he chuckled, sending chills up Kokichi's spine.

"What are you going to do?" Kokichi asked warily.

Takuro stood back upright, throwing his head back and laughing. "Aww, have you accepted your fate that you're going to die here?"

Kokichi went rigid. "Die? Here?"

"Yes. You are never going to see the sun again. Never going to see your little friends again. Never going to see your boyfriend again. You're never going to remember what a peaceful, happy life is. Your fate, Kokichi Ouma," Takuro moved to stroke his cheek, "is to lay here and die a slow, torturous death. I will make sure that you will not die so quickly. You see," he pulled away and walked to the metallic table across from Kokichi, "my father was a doctor. He'd met my mother when she was a nurse. He was a psychopath, however. He killed lot's of women. He made sure I knew what would happen if I ever disobeyed him. I became fascinated with his work. My mother knew as well, but she had to hide it, otherwise he'd torture her too."

"What does-"

"Shut up!" Takuro snapped, then turned his attention to his box he was opening. "Anyway. Do you know what happened, after I turned ten?"

Kokichi didn't answer.

Takuro took some sort of kit out of his box, setting it on the metallic table. "My father showed me what he did to his victims. He showed me exactly where to make an incision. Where to cut. Where I could stab without it being fatal, and if he got too rough, he showed me how to sew the wounds shut. He showed me how to treat burns of all degrees. He showed me how...easy, it is, to break somebody's mind. You, Kokichi, have some of the most basic fears. I was able to talk to Haruto the other week. I asked him what your biggest fears were."

Kokichi started to tremble.

"I think..." Takuro hummed as he finally picked up an instrument, "you're going to wish that I had just killed you on the streets."

Kokichi's violet eyes widened as Takuro came up to him, a scalpel and a lighter in his hand.

"Now then. Shall we begin?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea if the stalker being Takuro was a surprise to anyone- I tried to make it obvious but also not obvious- were yall surprised? :D


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's torture time, babey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ****!!!WARNING!!!****  
> This chapter will include torture, both physical and psychological. The physical gets pretty gorey, and the psychological WILL include spiders/other bugs, and mind breaking.  
> Please heed my warning before reading ahead.  
> Thank you :)

Takuro approached Kokichi, holding a scalpel and a lighter, a wicked smile crossing his face. "Now, shall we begin?" he asked. Kokichi rapidly shook his head, his heart beginning to thump like crazy. Takuro leaned over, flicking the lighter on and holding the scalpel over the flame. He waited. As the scalpel heated up, Kokichi felt his breathing begin to quicken, his anxiety rising.

"No..." he gasped, "please, please don't do this!" he begged.

"You're a little too late to be asking that. Why would I stop? I already have you bound up here. If I let you go, you'll just squeal like the little bitch you are to the police," Takuro sneered.

Kokichi shook his head rapidly. "No! Please! I- I promise I won't tell! I swear! Just, please!"

"You're lying."

"I'm not!"

"I can't stand liars, you know?" Takuro smirked and pulled the scalpel away from the lighter, and promptly stabbed it into Kokichi's side. Feeling a mixture of the heat and the stab wound, Kokichi let out a loud cry, struggling not to scream. Takuro's smirk widened. "See? It's not so bad." He started moving the knife around, twisting it in place. Kokichi couldn't stop the scream that escaped his lips after that.

Takuro laughed. It was a cold, sinister laugh. He pulled the scalpel out. Blood trickled from his wound. Takuro held the lighter to the stab wound to seal it. Kokichi's eyes widened and he screamed even louder than before. It hurt. It hurt so much. He felt tears pricking his eyes. Takuro pulled it away when he was satisfied. "Alright. Now that we know the scalpel works fine, let's test your pain tolerance."

"It's low! It's really low! Please stop!" Kokichi choked out.

Takuro moved to Kokichi's stomach, pressing his hand to his pale skin. "Let's see here...ah, this is a good spot," Takuro muttered, pressing the tip of the scalpel to the flesh. Fear bubbled up in Kokichi's chest. Takuro pressed down. Kokichi cried out, sobbing as the scalpel went in a good half inch. "Well? Does it hurt? Huh? Does it? Does it?" he laughed, moving to twist the knife just like he did with the stab wound. All he got were sobs and cries.

Humming gleefully, Takuro began moving the blade to the side, cutting into more skin. Kokichi desperately tried to trash out of the binds, but he couldn't move, due to the binds tightly holding his wrists in place. "Please stop! I'm begging you!" Kokichi choked out around his sobs.

However, his pleads were ignored, and Takuro kept continuing to carve into him, until he made a full square, barely an inch long and wide. He pulled the scalpel back, and began poking at the skin within the square. Kokichi screamed and cried, his body shaking. Takuro tsk'd.

"Poor thing. You're bleeding so much. Why don't I stitch you back up?" he pulled away from him, and took his scalpel and his lighter back to the box, putting them up and digging through it before taking out a needle holder, forceps, scissors, and...what was it called? Kokichi couldn't remember. Mikan had told him about it once before, but his mind was too muddled with pain and fear to register what exactly he was holding.

Takuro was back at his side within moments, and before he could say anything, there was a sharp pain on his skin. He cried out, realizing with a bit of terror that Takuro was stitching him up without any anesthesia. The pain went on for a solid twenty minutes, before Takuro had finished stitching his wound shut. "Interesting. You're truly magnificent to cut open, Kokichi Ouma," Takuro cackled, "aww, do you want some pain killers?" he took two pills out of his pocket.

Kokichi didn't move. He would not nod his head. He cannot give this man the sick satisfaction. Not that he trusted those were really painkillers anyway. For all he knew, they could have been some drug to keep him awake or something...he had no way of knowing. And he was not about to find out.

"Guess not. Such a shame," Takuro tossed them over his shoulder and started heading towards the stairs. "I'll be back later. Rest up. You'll need it," he cackled, and with that, he was gone.

Kokichi laid in silence, tears that he fought and failed to hold back began streaming faster down his face. It felt disgusting. He wanted to wipe the tears away, but being bound up, he couldn't. Not with his hands or wrists, anyway. He leaned his head to his arm and sloppily wiped his tears from his face with his shoulder, wincing a little when he felt the wetness on bare skin.

Well, at least his face didn't have to be sopping and gross.

He laid there, staring up at the ceiling, wondering what the time was. How long had he been out? Was it night time? Day time?

Was Kaito worried about him?

Tears sprung to his eyes the moment his mind drifted to Kaito. He missed him so much. He just wanted all of this to have been a god awful nightmare and to wake up next to Kaito, who'd wake up and instantly drop his initial sleepiness to hug him, rub his back, whisper how everything was alright, it was just a dream. He wanted Kaito to be there. He wanted Kaito to notice how badly he was shaken up, to wipe his tears away, kiss his forehead and offer him a smile, and promise to always protect him.

He craved it.

But...who knew how long it'd be before he could see Kaito again.

 _If_ he could ever see Kaito again.

He let out a sob at the thought. "Kaito," he whimpered, "I'm so sorry that I didn't say I love you enough..." his lower lip trembled, and he let out a pathetic sniffle.

Still in tears, Kokichi allowed himself to pass out. Whether it was from exhaustion or from pain though, he didn't know.

~

_"Hey, Kichi?" Kaito called from the kitchen. Kokichi made a noise of acknowledgement in the living room, loud enough for Kaito to hear. "Could you come here for a minute?"_

_Kokichi huffed and got up off the couch, walking to the kitchen. "Hmm? What'd I do this time, Kaito?" he asked with a yawn, and was soon met with flour all over his face. His eyes popped open in shock, and Kaito grinned triumphantly._

_"I told you I'd get you back for hiding my jackets."_

_"You threw flour at my face, how is that equal?!" Kokichi sputtered._

_Kaito smirked. "Well, it's something you would have done."_

_"Oh, fucking touche! It's on!" Kokichi bolted forward, grabbing a fist full of flour from the large bowl Kaito was holding, and flung it at him. Kaito yelped in shock, and soon, it turned into an all out war. The kitchen was a disaster, and both males were covered in flour._

_Eventually, Kaito held the bowl out of Kokichi's reach, and just dumped the rest on top of his head._

_"Kaito! You jerk!" Kokichi shouted, but he was laughing._

_"You would have done the same thing. You know, if you were tall enough," Kaito snickered._

_Kokichi playfully began pounding his fists on Kaito's chest. "That's soooo uncalled for! You're helping me wash up!"_

_Eyes sparkling, Kaito agreed._

_In the shower, the two stood underneath the warm water, both giggling uncontrollably as they attempted to get all the flour off of them and out of their hair. As Kokichi washed off Kaito's face, he smiled. "There. Your ugly mug is all clean."_

_Kaito stared down at him for a moment, a look of fondness in his eyes. Before Kokichi could ask what he was staring at, Kaito swooped down and pressed a kiss to Kokichi's lips. He pulled away after a moment. "I love you, Kichi."_

_"I- I- you're an idiot," Kokichi pouted, a blush spreading across his face._

_Kaito simply laughed._

_~_

Kokichi was startled awake when the door to the basement slammed open. His heart thudded from the sudden loud noise of it, and held his breath when he heard Takuro come thumping loudly down the stairs.

"Rise and shine, Kokichi," he practically sang, looking excited, "I have something special planned for you!"

Trembling, Kokichi spoke quietly. "What time is it? Has it been a day since you kidnapped me?"

Takuro brushed him off. "Oh, you don't need to worry about the concept of time. I told you already, didn't I? You're going to die here. No point in knowing what time it is if you're never going to see the sunlight ever again!" he cheerfully went to the corner, where the little boxes with tarps covering them were placed carefully. There were two of them.

He brought them both to the metallic table. "Do you remember what I said last night? That I talked to Haruto about your fears?"

Kokichi didn't answer.

Takuro continued. "You know what he said? Bugs." He removed the tarp to one of the boxes, revealing it wasn't actually a box. It was a cage. And there were two, it looked like, centipedes in there.

Kokichi paled.

Walking over, Takuro smirked when he noticed his face. "Oh, don't worry. They're small centipedes. So, they aren't venomous. I do have to keep you alive for awhile, you know." He held the cage over Kokichi. Kokichi went nuts.

"No! Wait! Please! Please don't do this! Please, please, please, I swear I'll do anything you want! You can torture me all you want! You can- you can- you can burn me, o-or stab me! Anything! Just _please don't do this_!" Kokichi begged, his breathing beginning to quicken.

Takuro laughed. "Interesting. I guess bugs truly are your phobia, if you prefer getting physically tortured. Well, I don't want you to die from fear, so I'll only keep them on for a bit." He opened the little cage, and promptly dumped them on Kokichi's small body.

Kokichi's screams of pain yesterday, with the burn, with being cut open, with being stabbed? All of those screams felt like nothing compared to the ear splitting scream of pure terror that came from his mouth as the two centipedes crawled on him. One of them went down his leg, while the other hung around his torso. Kokichi let out a loud, gut wrenching sob.

He jolted when he felt a tiny bite on his leg. He screamed. Takuro sighed and moved to pick the centipedes up. "This isn't as fun as I imagined. How disappointing." He tossed the centipedes in the cage. "Guess I'll get rid of these. However...maybe you'll prove to be more entertaining with our next try." He set the cages down, walking back to the metallic table and removing the tarp of the second cage.

Inside it was a big tarantula.

Kokichi began to hyperventilate.

Takuro opened the cage and let the spider crawl into his hand. He carefully carried it over to Kokichi, and set it down on his chest.

"Get it off! Get it off of me! I'm fucking begging you to stop!" Kokichi screamed, his voice going several octaves higher. The spider slowly made it's way closer to Kokichi's face. Kokichi let out a scream comparable to a banshee on crack, and just as it got to his neck, the world went dark.

He was fortunate to have lost consciousness from pure fright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I barely published this and I can already feel the hatred from everyone...  
> pls don't kill me. I have a wife. *hides my kaede akamatsu body pillow* this is, without a doubt, the darkest thing I've ever written. Aside from your murderous intents, I'd love to hear feedback on how I did!  
> BUT! Real talk. I was able to practice horror/torture elements thanks to my pal getting me into "Shuuen no Shiori" ! It's a really great manga/song series and I recommend yall check it out!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The search for Kokichi has begun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *I sweat* ha ha ha...

The moment Kaito had gathered his bearings, he got dressed and left in a hurry, driving down all possible streets where Kokichi could have gone. He stopped by a bunch of stores that weren't out of the way and asked if Kokichi had come by. Everyone had said no, or had to ask someone else due to them not being there earlier. Kaito slumped in his truck, shaking. Why? Why was this happening?

His phone buzzing for the eighteenth time snapped him out of his thoughts. Right...he never did answer Miu's texts, or her calls. He picked his phone up and finally answered it. "H-"

 _"Why the fuck did it take you so fucking long to answer you fucking spiky haired wad of rotten dick cheese?!"_ Miu screamed in his ear. Kaito cringed, holding the phone several inches away from his ear. She was still shouting.

_"Literally how fucking dare you? What the fuck is your goddamn fucking problem, what the fuck did you fucking mean when you asked me if the little fucking shota shit is asleep with me? Are you fucking insinuating he's fucking missing? Answer me, or I swear to god I'll wring your fucking virgin neck out and beat your disgusting slab of bacon body up with it before I fucking shove your neck up your ass!"_

"Wh..? I didn't...what?" Kaito shook his head, deciding to ignore her nonsensical threats. "I meant what it means, Miu. Kichi never came home."

There was silence. For a moment, Kaito was worried, but his concerns disappeared when she spoke again. Well...spoke would be putting it lightly, honestly. Kaito wondered how her neighbors could stand listening to her. Especially since it was well after one in the morning.

 _"What the fuck?"_ Miu exploded, _"he left fifteen minutes before seven! It does not take that long to get home! It's not that far away? You better be fucking with me and the little shota shit is standing behind you laughing! If not then I'll fucking bite your fucking balls off and feed them to the worms and then shove the worms up your ass!"_

"Will you stop threatening to shove things up my ass?" Kaito snapped. Miu squealed a little and finally quieted down. Kaito sighed. "Thank you. And, no, Kichi isn't behind me. I'm in my truck right now. I've been driving around looking for him. I'm gonna call my sidekicks and ask around."

 _"Fine. I'll call Angie, Kiibo and Cactus Nipple,"_ Miu said shakily before she suddenly hung up.

Kaito sighed, guilt starting to consume him in waves. Miu was just worried about Kokichi. He backed out of her contact and went to Maki's, since she was right above Miu's contact. He held the phone to his ear and waited.

One ring. Two rings. Three rings. Four rings.

Maki picked up on the fifth ring.

 _"You better have a good reason for calling me, or I will kill you,"_ she seethed. She sounded tired. Kaito cringed. He must have woken her up. Well, it was after one in the morning. Maki was usually asleep at eleven.

"Hey, Maki roll, have you heard from Kokichi?" he asked, getting right to the point.

_"From Kokichi? No. I haven't seen or heard from him since he left the cafe."_

"Seriously..?" Kaito groaned, "okay. Okay. I'm sorry for waking you up, Maki roll. Sleep tight."

 _"Hold on,"_ Maki said sharply, _"what's going on?"_

"I'll explain everything later." Kaito hung up before she could say anything else.

Kaito scrolled down to Shuichi's contact and clicked his name. Honestly, who knew if Shuichi was asleep? Sometimes he went to bed at a normal time, and other times he was up at five in the morning studying. He held the phone to his ear. Shuichi answered on the third ring.

 _"Hello? Kaito?"_ Shuichi yawned. It was hard to tell whether he was just tired or had just woken up.

Kaito smiled a little. "Hey, Shuichi. Did I wake you?"

 _"No, no, I was just...napping a little,"_ Shuichi muttered, _"it's fine. What's wrong?"_

"Have you heard from Kokichi? At all? Since he left the cafe?"

 _"No,"_ Shuichi sounded a bit more awake, _"why?"_

Kaito sighed, dejected. "I'll tell you later, okay?"

_"Okay, Kaito..."_

Kaito hung up. He tried Rantaro next, who kindly, yet sleepily, told him he hadn't spoken to Kokichi since yesterday. He tried Kaede, who, after gently scolding him for being awake at this time, grew the most concerned when he asked her if she'd heard from Kokichi. He hesitated before he called Tenko. She answered on the sixth ring, and blew up at him for calling her.

 _"Why are you calling me at this hour? It's almost two in the morning you inconsiderate degenerate male!"_ Tenko shouted.

Kaito rubbed his temple. "I ju-"

 _"Not that I'm surprised that you're up at this hour! Stupid degenerate males, staying up late and calling us helpless girls to keep us awake!"_ Tenko snubbed.

"I just wanna know where Kokichi is," Kaito snapped out quickly. Tenko fell silent. So, Kaito continued. "We- me, Maki roll, Shuichi and Kokichi, were at a cafe in the afternoon. He left for Miu's, and left her apartment close to seven. He hasn't come home. Have you heard from him?"

 _"No, we don't really talk,"_ Tenko admitted, _"the last time we talked was over a week ago, and it wasn't even for very long."_

"Alright. Thank you. I'm sorry for waking you up," Kaito apologized and hung up before Tenko could say anything else.

Kaito slammed a fist to his steering wheel. "Goddammit," he hissed, and sent Miu a message.

_Kaito_

_Hey, any luck? Has anyone seen or heard from Kichi?_

_Sent at: 1:43am_

_Miu_

_Nothing. Fucking Nothing. Kiibo hasn't seen him since this this morning because they met up at breakfast to exchange notes. Angie saw him two days ago when she was with me, and Cactus Nipple hadn't seen him since Sunday. Four days ago._

_Sent at: 1:47am_

_Kaito_

_I'll call the police and report him as missing. You may get brought in since you were the last person to have seen him, though. Just a warning._

_Sent at: 1:49am_

_Miu_

_I don't fucking care, I just want them to find him._

_Sent at: 1:50am_

_Kaito_

_I know. I do too._

_Sent at: 1:52am_

Kaito sighed and went back and dialed in the number to call the police, and held it to his ear.

_"Emergency assistance, how can I help you?"_

"Hi I...I need to file a missing person report," Kaito gulped. He'd never done this before, and it was nerve wrecking. Without missing a beat, the operator sent him to talk to an officer for this. After repeating his request, the officer began to ask questions.

_"What's the missing person's name?"_

"Kokichi Ouma."

_"Age?"_

"He's twenty one. He'll be twenty two in a couple weeks."

_"Date of birth?"_

"June twenty first, of 1998."

_"Height?"_

"He's one hundred fifty six centimeters. Five foot one."

_"Weight?"_

"Uhh..." Kaito had to pause for a moment, "last we checked he was about forty four kilograms. Ninety seven pounds."

 _"What was the victim wearing, when he was last seen?"_ The officer questioned.

"He was wearing dark purple skinny jeans, a white short sleeved shirt, black shoes, and a checkered scarf."

_"What does he look like?"_

"Kokichi has uh, like, medium length black hair, with purple highlights. He's really pale, and has violet eyes. He's also extremely skinny. I can come to the station to deliver a picture," Kaito offered, moving to take his wallet out. He had two pictures in his wallet- one of him and Kokichi half hugging, it'd been a selfie taken by Kaito, Kokichi had been smiling widely, looking at genuine peace, and Kaito had a winning grin on his face. The other picture was of Kokichi completely bundled up in a white sweater, a scarf, sweats, a hat, and he had Kaito's jacket wrapped around him. He'd been staring at Kaito and made a pouty face when Kaito brought the camera out. It was the most adorable picture Kaito had of him.

Neither of these would really fit, huh? The first had him in it, and the second had him covered up. No big deal. He had more pictures printed out at home.

_"Yes, that would be fine. Where does he live?"_

"He lives with me. I'm his boyfriend, Kaito Momota."

_"Address?"_

"6902, Jabberwock street. We live in Apartment 202B."

_"And when was he last seen?"_

"He was last seen by his childhood friend Miu Iruma. Her phone number is..." Kaito recalled her number, and continued, "according to her, he left her apartment a quarter to seven in the evening. After that, none of us could get into contact with him."

 _"Alright. Thank you, Momota, we'll keep you updated,"_ the officer promised.

"Thank you so much, sir," Kaito responded gratefully.

_"Of course. We'll find your boyfriend."_

"I really appreciate it. I'll be down at the station in twenty minutes to deliver a picture of Kokichi," Kaito promised.

_"We will see you then."_

"Thank you again!" And, the two hung up. Kaito sighed in relief. Good, the report was finished. Now, he just had to drive to his apartment, get a picture of Kokichi, and take it to the station. He started his car up and drove the short drive home. He rushed inside and went through his photo albums that he'd been filling up since the two got together. He ultimately decided on the simplest picture of Kokichi he had. It was taken two days after his birthday. He was sitting on the couch, playing on his phone. Kaito had taken a few pictures before Kokichi had looked up with a surprised expression. That was the one that Kaito decided to take to the station.

The drive to the station felt grating. But, he managed in the end, without feeling too sick. He just never thought he'd have to do something like this.

Inside, Kaito spoke to the man at the desk. "I'm Kaito Momota? I called earlier to file a missing person report? I told the officer I'd bring a picture of my missing boyfriend," he explained.

"Officer Nagamine is in his office. Wait here," the man stood and knocked on one of the several doors. After he opened it he spoke in a low tone, and the man pulled away. "He'll see you now."

Kaito nodded in thanks and walked inside the office. "Uhh...Officer Nagamine?" Kaito questioned.

"Kaito Momota, correct?" Officer Nagamine stood, holding his hand out. Kaito accepted his hand and shook it.

"Yes sir. I, uh, brought the picture of my boyfriend..." he fumbled with his wallet and took out the picture he'd chosen and handed it to the officer, who looked it over before he paper-clipped it to a file. "We will send out search parties in twenty four to forty eight hours, since he's been missing for no more than six."

"But it could be serious!" Kaito insisted, "he...he said, ever since the beginning of the year, he feels like he's being watched. I'm scared there may be a stalker after him. I just...I don't know..." he finally began to tear up, "I never took it seriously. We were part of the Haruto Izumi case last year. I thought he was just still on edge because of it..."

Nagamine sat up straight. "You were. That's right. I remember you. Both of you."

Kaito furrowed his brows, then gasped. "You were one of the officers who escorted Haruto out in cuffs! From the trial!" he recalled.

Nagamine nodded. "I was also the driver when he was being arrested at the hospital. Though I don't think you'd remember me from that. We were a little low staffed that day, and me and some of the others were on a patrol, so we ended up arresting him."

"No kidding..." Kaito breathed. How lucky were they that they had an officer familiar with that situation. Nagamine looked deep in thought.

"I will contact Detective Saihara, he should be able to find your boyfriend."

For a moment, Kaito assumed Shuichi, but quickly reminded himself that Shuichi's uncle was a detective as well. Which meant Shuichi would be getting details soon. He had to tell everyone in the morning that Kokichi was missing.

"Thank you so much, sir, it means a lot to me."

"Just doing my job."

And, with that, Kaito left.

-

Around six in the morning, Kaito sent a message to everyone, telling them to come to his apartment at eight. He included Miu as well, despite knowing she already knew he was missing. Everyone came, albeit groggily. Once everyone was present, Kaito cleared his throat.

"I have something important to say."

"What is it?" Kiibo asked, seemingly the only one aside from Angie who wasn't sleep deprived. Kaito glanced over at Miu, who was sitting on the couch, her legs brought up to her chest. Her arms were wrapped around her legs, her chin resting on her kneecaps. She was pale, with dark bags underneath her eyes. Kaito was sure he didn't look much better. He took a deep breath and turned back to everyone's tired, confused, and expectant gazes.

"Kokichi's missing."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing Angry Miu is honestly the most fun part of this series...and also, I made the birthdays roughly around 1998/1999 because I have a theory that since the first two killing games happened during their final year of high school that that's the case with the V3 cast, making them about 17/18. And since I think that, the game came out in 2017, meaning that's the year of graduation. So they'd have been born around 1998/1999 :)  
> Anyway, don't forget to comment and leave kudos for more motivational writing :D


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi decides he wants to help his uncle crack the Kokichi case. Meanwhile, Kokichi's torment continues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It really feels like it's been forever since quarantine started huh

Shuichi went home with Rantaro after Kaito told him the news of Kokichi's disappearance. He felt shocked, shaken, and utterly terrified. As Rantaro drove them back to the apartment, he replayed the entire conversation in his head, over and over again, mentally going over all of the details that they were all given.

. . .

_"Kokichi's missing," Kaito said in a surprisingly steady tone. At once, it went silent. Finally, Kiibo was the first to speak, much to Shuichi surprise. Kiibo gasped out a soft 'what', as though he couldn't believe what he'd heard. Not that Shuichi blamed him. He was shocked too._

_"I said he's missing," Kaito repeated, his voice shaking. Shuichi felt his heart race as Himiko spoke up._

_"Where...where was he last seen? Is he anywhere around there?"_

_Kaito looked frustrated. "Obviously not. Do you really think I wouldn't have already searched for him?" he snapped. Himiko shrunk back in on herself, wrapping her arms around her legs as she hiccuped out an apology. Kaito sighed, running his hand through his hair. "No, I'm sorry, Himiko. I'm just worried. We found out he was missing about eight hours ago now. I've been up all night."_

_"We?" Rantaro questioned._

_"Miu and I," Kaito motioned to her. Everyone glanced at her. Shuichi expected her to make a snarky remark about staring, or a rude comment about the whole situation, or hell, even a swear that whoever took Kokichi was going to pay. But to his complete and utter shock, she didn't say anything. She didn't even acknowledge that they were all staring at her._

_"Miu?" Kiibo, who was sitting next to her, gently shook her. She blinked and looked over at him. "Are you alright, Miu?"_

_Seeing everyone stare at her, Miu attempted to get her bravado back. "Of course I'm okay, you weasels."_

_Even her insults were lacking._

_Shuichi turned back to Kaito and finally saw just how exhausted he looked. He was pale, his eyes were rimmed red, and he had bags under his eyes. He honestly looked ready to pass out. He took a deep breath. No one else was speaking, and his detective mind was racing. "Kaito? Could you tell us everything you know?"_

_"He left the cafe, got to Miu's, left before seven, and never got back to our apartment. That's all we know. We haven't been able to get into contact with him either. We think his phone either died, or it was destroyed. There's no way of telling," Kaito said tiredly, "but one more thing. Detective Saihara's on the case."_

_Shuichi put a hand over his mouth in thought. So sometime after he left Miu's, he'd have to go home. He knew which path Kokichi normally took. If he asked his uncle if he can help, then he could bring his uncle there and they could search for clues._

_It was a start._

_. . ._

Shuichi sat down in his and Rantaro's shared bedroom, pulling his phone out. He went to his uncle's contact, which was under Uncle Jiro. He held the phone to his ear. Jiro answered on the third ring.

_"Hey, Shuichi."_

"Hey, uncle. Um...so...did you get a new case this morning? F-for a missing person?" Shuichi asked. He heard Jiro sigh over the line.

_"Yeah. Friend of yours?"_

"Yes. I was just wondering if I could help out in the investigation. I mean, Kokichi is my friend too, and I know the path he takes from Miu's apartment to his apartment. We can start there."

Jiro hesitated. _"Alright, Shuichi. I trust you. But finding a missing person isn't like finding a missing pet, which is what you're used to. With pets, they run away on their own. But with people, with cases like this, there's usually some sort of grudge or motivation."_

"A grudge or motivation...who would go after Kokichi?"

_"That's what we're going to be figuring out. So where's this place you want to investigate?"_

"Ah- it's in that really quiet neighborhood with the large fence covering all of the houses backyards. The one you always say is the perfect kidnapping spot," Shuichi replied. The two promised to meet up there in fifteen minutes. Shuichi, after hanging up, went out to where Rantaro was cooking breakfast.

"I'll be back. I'm gonna borrow your car. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine," Rantaro murmured, "be careful, okay?"

"I will," Shuichi walked over and gently kissed Rantaro's cheek before he headed out.

He drove to the general area between Miu and Kaito's apartments, and stopped the car. Within minutes, Jiro was arriving. The two hopped out of their respective vehicles, and after a very quick greeting, they headed down the street together.

"It's creepy down here," Shuichi muttered, "if I'm right and Kokichi did take this route, why did he? Kaito said that he left close to seven, so it had to have been mostly dark outside." Then, he paused. "Uncle, is that a bike? In the middle of the sidewalk?"

"Looks like it." Both men picked up their pace. It wasn't uncommon for kids to leave their bikes out, but it was uncommon if it looked like it'd been thrown down, and it was in the middle of the sidewalk.

"It looks like it was thrown," Shuichi said.

Jiro nodded. "Had to have been a diversion. Look at these little dented scratch marks. Someone tripped over it," he took several steps back and walked back, as if mimicking a tripping movement. He nodded in confirmation.

"So, did Kokichi throw the bike and make whoever was after him trip?" Shuichi asked.

Jiro crossed his arms. "That's our safest bet. We need more clues. Let's keep looking."

The two men continued walking down the street. It was as though they'd just continued running. Until they stopped at a corner. Shuichi put a finger to his mouth. "We can ask anyone who lives here if they know anything."

"I doubt it. Why wouldn't they do anything?" Jiro paused then shook his head, "no, you're right. Let's ask."

The two walked down the corner, and stopped at the first house nearby. Jiro rang the doorbell. Moments later, the door cracked open, and a young woman looked out. "Yes? Can I help you?"

"Hi mam, sorry for disturbing you," Jiro smiled, "my name is Detective Jiro Saihara. It's a pleasure to meet you. Would it be alright if you answered a couple questions for me?"

She looked wary. "Sure." She stepped out and crossed her arms.

"Did you happen to see a boy, around maybe five foot one, in a white shirt, checkered scarf, and purple jeans? At all? Roughly after eight last night?" Jiro prodded. She paled and turned away.

"No."

She was lying. Her eyes were sad though, so Shuichi didn't believe she did it or anything.

"I did, hear them though," she sighed, looking guilty. There was information that she was withholding. Shuichi could tell. But it was possible that she'd been threatened not to tell, or something along those lines, so he just waited.

"It sounded like they were getting farther away. I would check the alley across the street," she pointed.

"Are you sure you didn't see him? You don't recognize who was chasing him?" Jiro persisted.

The woman shook her head. "No. Sorry." She went back inside, slamming the door and locking it. Jiro sighed, rubbing the back of his head.

"That could have gone better. We may as well check out the alley."

"Yeah..."

The two left her house, and headed to the alleyway that the woman had pointed out.

For several feet, there was nothing...until Shuichi saw something that definitely didn't look like dirt. He kneed down. "Hey, uh, uncle?"

"Yeah?"

"I think...I think this is dried blood."

"What?" Jiro walked over. Shuichi pointed at the small flecks of dry blood on the rocks, then over at a larger patch of blood a few steps further. Shuichi nodded, biting his lips nervously.

"It's blood. I'm pretty sure."

Jiro nodded, and hummed. "You're right. And if Kokichi did come down here...then this blood belongs to him."

"So he was kidnapped around here sometime after eight?" Shuichi asked.

"That would be my assumption. Now, let's go ask the other locals if they'd seen anything."

"Yes, uncle."

~-~

Kokichi let out a groan as he slowly came to. He blinked. What had happened again..? Oh! He remembered. He looked around rapidly, but he didn't see what he was looking for.

_. . ._

_Takuro laughed. "Interesting. I guess bugs truly are your phobia, if you prefer getting physically tortured. Well, I don't want you to die from fear, so I'll only keep them on for a bit." He opened the little cage, and promptly dumped them on Kokichi's small body._

_Kokichi's screams of pain yesterday, with the burn, with being cut open, with being stabbed? All of those screams felt like nothing compared to the ear splitting scream of pure terror that came from his mouth as the two centipedes crawled on him. One of them went down his leg, while the other hung around his torso. Kokichi let out a loud, gut wrenching sob._

_-_

_Takuro opened the cage and let the spider crawl into his hand. He carefully carried it over to Kokichi, and set it down on his chest._

_"Get it off! Get it off of me! I'm fucking begging you to stop!" Kokichi screamed, his voice going several octaves higher. The spider slowly made it's way closer to Kokichi's face. Kokichi let out a scream comparable to a banshee on crack, and just as it got to his neck, the world went dark._

_. . ._

The spider and the centipedes that Takuro had put on him were gone. But why?

He wasn't gonna argue or anything, he just didn't understand. If Takuro wanted to make him suffer so much, why are the bugs gone?

The door to the basement slammed open.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear.

Takuro smirked when he saw Kokichi awake. He was holding a water bottle. "There you are. You've been out for hours. I'm disappointed the bugs didn't work as well as I thought they would."

"What do you mean, they didn't work?" Kokichi asked, his voice a little raspy. Takuro came over and unscrewed the water bottle cap and pressed the bottle to his lips. Knowing it wasn't a good idea but not particularly caring at the moment, Kokichi opened his mouth and let Takuro pour the water in his mouth. Once he was done, Takuro put the lid back on and set it on the metallic table.

"The centipedes did make you scream more than my scalpel ever could. But it simply wasn't as fun. And I can't have you constantly passing out from fear, you'll eventually die from the shock, that's not how I plan on killing you," he huffed, "I had to let them go."

Relief found it's way onto Kokichi's features.

"Don't look so happy, you little brat, because now the physical torture is going to grow twice as much," Takuro hissed, annoyed. He headed to his toolbox and rummaged around for a bit before gasping and picking up some scissors and a hammer. "These will do." He turned to Kokichi, a smirk spreading into a wild grin. "Hey, Kokichi, answer me something." When Kokichi remained silent, he continued.

"Have you ever had a broken bone before?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys. My mental health is severely declining right now. Since my paid vacations over I did file for unemployment at least, but...I don't know. Too much is going on for me mentally. Leave a comment, drop some kudos, it won't help my health but it'll at least give me the confidence boost to keep going. I kinda forced this chapter out honestly.  
> Don't worry about my mentality. I'll be okay.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The torment continues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **WARNING** for more graphic violence content  
> Hope ur all still here

Kokichi stared at the scissors and the hammer in fear as Takuro slowly got closer and closer to him. His heart started pounding harder and harder. He squeezed his eyes shut when Takuro towered over him, not missing the wide grin that split across the older man's face. Moments of dreaded silence filled the stuffy basement air. The only sound Kokichi could hear was the sound of his own beating heart. He was just waiting for pain.

And pain he got.

Takuro slammed the hammer down directly on his kneecap. Kokichi's eyes shot wide open and he couldn't stop the loud scream that made it's way up his throat. Takuro, gleefully ignoring his screams, observed his knee. "Hm...not broken yet. But we'll fix that." He brought the hammer back, and slammed it down again on the same spot. Kokichi let out a choked cry, sobbing in pain and agony. He faintly heard Takuro happy noise when he realized his knee was, indeed, now broken. Takuro moved to his other knee, and brought the hammer down on Kokichi's ankle.

This repeated until his ankle was broken too.

Kokichi screamed and cried and begged for him to stop.

"Please...it hurts so bad! It hurts! Stop!"

Takuro shook his head. "Tsk, tsk, Kokichi Ouma. I'm guessing you've never had a broken bone before. It's supposed to hurt." He smirked after that, and eyed his torso. "You're so skinny, you know that?"

Out of pure fear, Kokichi didn't answer. Takuro lifted the hammer, and brought it down on to Kokichi's ribs. Kokichi screamed. Takuro dropped the hammer, only to slap Kokichi roughly across the face. "I didn't break your ribs, so shut up."

Soft whimpers escaped Kokichi's lips. He bit the inside of his cheek so hard that he could feel blood in his mouth. He was trying not to make any more noise in fear of being in more pain. Takuro looked at the scissors in his hands. "These are very special scissors, you know. Do you want to know the history of these scissors?"

Kokichi said nothing.

"These belonged to my father. He used these scissors specifically to cut his victims open in the most torturous, gruesome way. When he wanted to inflict pain that a mere scalpel couldn't do, he used these. He took great care of them, made sure they stayed sharp. He gave them to me when he knew the police were going to catch him and told me to always make sure these stay sharp. I took great care of them, for all these years. And now I can finally use them."

Tears began to make their way down Kokichi's face.

Takuro lifted the scissors, and moved it down slowly. The tip of the scissors pressed lightly into his skin on his thigh, where it wouldn't be fatal, but would surely be painful. Kokichi could feel himself trembling like a loose leaf during a windstorm. Then, Takuro started applying pressure.

Blood slowly poked out from the wound. Kokichi whimpered again. Takuro smirked, and suddenly shoved the scissors into his thigh. Kokichi let out an ear piercing scream as Takuro pulled the scissors out and put them back in. "Look at all that blood," he cooed, "red is so pretty with shiny silver, don't you agree?"

Receiving no answer other than Kokichi's pained screams, Takuro gripped the scissor handles. "I said...don't you _agree_?" He enunciated just as he split the scissors open, making the wound all that much bigger. Kokichi's eyes bugged much wider and he screamed even louder, tears rolling uncontrollably down his face. Takuro laughed and removed the scissors. "Amazing! This is amazing! The screams, the anguish, the blood...it's fantastic! Give me more of your delicious screams, Kokichi Ouma!"

Kokichi let out a guttural sob. "Stohohp. Plehehease..." he managed to choke out around his tears.

Takuro pressed the bloodied scissors to his lower stomach. "And why would I stop when I'm having so much fun? You deserve to suffer. You put Haruto in prison. My nephew was innocent...and you condemned him to fifty eight years in that hell! He'll be almost eighty when he gets out! Now, do you think that's fair? Hmm?" he started applying pressure. Kokichi cried out.

"I asked you a fucking question. Is that fair?"

"N-no!"

"I thought not. So then why did you sentence Haruto to a life of hell? Answer me. Before my fingers slip and force these scissors deeper in to you."

Fear enveloping him, Kokichi started babbling around his sobs. "B-because I-I'm weak, a-and I'm a l-liar. I'm h-horrible."

"You're a weak and horrible liar? Well, then what's Haruto?"

"H-he's a...a g-good man..."

"That's right." Suddenly, Takuro's face twisted into fury. He slammed the scissors in Kokichi's lower stomach, seemingly relishing his screams. "He's a good man and yet you did this to him! You deserve this! You're nothing! You're nothing but a piece of _lying_ _scum_ , you're lower than a damn _ant_!" he pulled the bloody scissors out as Kokichi screamed. Blood was everywhere. All over Kokichi's stomach, his thigh, the bed was absolutely disgustingly soaked with his blood, the scissors of course, and so was Takuro's hand and arm. He brought the scissors back down, stabbing into the area mere centimeters away from his other stab wound. He did the same thing as earlier, and snapped the scissors opened.

"Does it feel good, you little bitch? You're such a little bitch, you know that?" Takuro began moving the scissors around. Kokichi sobbed, feeling his consciousness slowly begin to fade.

Takuro ripped the scissors out, letting the blood drip all over Kokichi's lithe, pale body. He licked his lips.

Kokichi lost consciousness again, though it wasn't soon enough.

~-~

Maki sighed as she walked to her apartment. Her eyes were slightly lowered to the ground, her phone clutched in her hand. Dammit all. Ever since Kaito had told everyone that Kokichi was missing, she'd been losing sleep. Not that she was anything special, she thought darkly, everyone had been losing sleep. Even Tenko, who honestly probably disliked Kokichi the most, had been more weary as of late. Last Maki heard, Tenko had put teaching at her father's dojo on hold for now, because she kept getting distracted. Not to mention, Kaede has seemed really depressed, and Miu's been holing herself up in her apartment room, having her professors send her the work via email, though Maki wasn't sure how much of it has actually been getting done. Kaito too, has been more irritable and lost in thought.

All in all, it's been a rough week for everyone.

One week. One week had gone by. It seemed the only ones not showing any signs of being effected were Shuichi, Angie and Maki. However, Maki knew Shuichi was terrified of what might have happened to the smaller male. Angie was doing her best to constantly cheer everyone up, saying, in Maki's humble opinion, absolute nonsense about Kokichi being fine because Atua won't let him die.

It lead to Kaito telling her to shut up.

But Maki didn't miss the look of hurt that'd flashed across Angie's face. It was difficult, she reasoned, knowing that one of the liveliest people you knew was missing and it dragging everyone's moods down. Someone had to be the ray of positivity and optimism. But where was that getting her?

Maki knew she had to be the voice of reason. She'd known it would end up being her responsibility from the moment Kaito had said Kokichi was missing. She fucking knew it. And it's not like she minded listening to everyone's worry...it's just...she didn't have anyone to turn to for reassurance. She couldn't bring herself to believe her own words.

"Shit," Maki swore softly, kicking a rock out of her way, "if only I'd protected him..."

She knew Rantaro would probably be the next best voice of reason, but he was busying himself with worry over Shuichi's wellbeing. He hadn't been getting much sleep either. From what she'd been told, he's been staying up until six in the morning looking over any evidence both new and old, falling asleep for half an hour to an hour before he had to go to classes, then he'd go right back to reviewing his evidence and trying to piece things together. He also wasn't eating right.

As much as Maki knew Rantaro was worried for Kokichi, he also had to be the strong one for Shuichi at home. Listening to Maki would just add to his burdens.

And that's something Maki just couldn't do.

Once she was in her apartment, she tossed her backpack down, and walked to the couch barely fifteen feet away from the door. She plopped down on it, leaning forward and burying her face in her hands.

"Kokichi...I am so sorry for not protecting you," Maki whispered tearfully, as if he could hear her. At the cafe the day he'd gone missing, she knew something was wrong. She'd had a gut feeling all day that something bad was going to happen. She should have done something.

Anything.

She moved one hand to her chest, above where her heart was. A single tear fell down her face. And then another. And another. "Dammit," she choked out, shaking. "I can't believe I failed. Again." She shook her head.

There was...one person, she could call. The girl she'd had her eyes on for a long time now. Hesitantly, Maki turned her phone on, and went to the contacts. She pressed call, and held it up to her ear. The user picked up after two rings.

_"H-hi, Maki."_

After she heard her voice, Maki relaxed slightly. "Hi, Mikan."

_"I-is there something wrong?"_

Maki hesitated, not wanting to jump into her problems immediately. But, she relented after a moment. "Yeah. I just...Mikan, I don't know what to do."

 _"Is this about Kokichi going missing?"_ Mikan asked in a softer tone.

"It is. Everyone's wracking themselves with worry and...I am too...but...someone has to be the strong one. And it has to be me."

_"W-why?"_

"Why?" Maki repeated, rubbing her head, "I don't know, okay? I don't know why! Shuichi is focused on the investigation but he's not mentally stable, Rantaro's ruining his health worried about both Kokichi and Shuichi. Angie's trying to be positive, but she keeps getting shot down, Miu's isolating herself so who knows what she's doing, Kiibo and Himiko are withdrawing from everyone, Tenko's getting more and more distracted, Kaede's fallen into a depression and Kaito's sick with worry! His health is getting worse over this. I have to be the voice of reason, and there's no one for me to vent my worries to..." Maki's voice cracked.

 _"I get off work soon,"_ Mikan murmured, _"I-it's not much...but I'll bring some snacks over. I-I'll l-let you vent all night if you need to."_

Maki let out a small sniffle, wiping her tears away.

"Thank you, Mikan."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow uh...sorry that took awhile to update. I've gotten into more fandoms and it's made focusing on this one hard. Especially since my new fandom fic (The fandom is "Your turn to die") is getting deadass almost as much love and support as this one is and it has like half the amount of chapters, so of course my focus is on it.  
> Thing is I'm slightly stumped on the next chapter, but I wanna update, so I'm back here.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaito realizes he needs to be there for his friends too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **WARNING**  
> Substance abuse, self harm, and self hate/blame!

Kaito hasn't been doing well.

...Understatement of the fucking century. He wasn't sure what to do at this point. He's done all he could to help Shuichi and his uncle with the investigation to help find Kokichi, but his 'help' has been really useless. They're no closer to finding him now than they were when they found out he was missing twelve days ago. Twelve fucking days, and there was no sign of him. That was almost a full two weeks ago.

Glancing at the date on his phone, he realized with a start that it was May twenty first. His shoulders hunched down. One month until Kokichi's birthday.

Would they find him in time?

In one month, they'd have been living together for a year. This year would mark the two year mark of them dating. Maybe Kaito was moving a little fast but...well, he may not be able to do anything, if they don't find him.

 _If_. Ha. He's really lost hope, huh?

Idly, he wondered if he could get Miu to add anything else, or if she could help search. He hadn't seen her since he called in the meeting about Kokichi going missing. It felt like it was so long ago...and, after twelve days? It kinda was. He frowned and leaned his head back. She had been...really quiet that morning.

. . .

_Around six in the morning, Kaito sent a message to everyone, telling them to come to his apartment at eight. He included Miu as well, despite knowing she already knew he was missing. Everyone came, albeit groggily. Once everyone was present, Kaito cleared his throat._

_"I have something important to say."_

_"What is it?" Kiibo asked, seemingly the only one aside from Angie who wasn't sleep deprived. Kaito glanced over at Miu, who was sitting on the couch, her legs brought up to her chest. Her arms were wrapped around her legs, her chin resting on her kneecaps. She was pale, with dark bags underneath her eyes. Kaito was sure he didn't look much better. He took a deep breath and turned back to everyone's tired, confused, and expectant gazes._

_"Kokichi's missing," Kaito said in a surprisingly steady tone._

_-_

_"Where...where was he last seen? Is he anywhere around there?"_

_Kaito looked frustrated. "Obviously not. Do you really think I wouldn't have already searched for him?" he snapped. Himiko shrunk back in on herself, wrapping her arms around her legs as she hiccuped out an apology. Kaito sighed, running his hand through his hair. "No, I'm sorry, Himiko. I'm just worried. We found out he was missing about eight hours ago now. I've been up all night."_

_"We?" Rantaro questioned._

_"Miu and I," Kaito motioned to her. Everyone glanced at her. Shuichi expected her to make a snarky remark about staring, or a rude comment about the whole situation, or hell, even a swear that whoever took Kokichi was going to pay. But to his complete and utter shock, she didn't say anything. She didn't even acknowledge that they were all staring at her._

_"Miu?" Kiibo, who was sitting next to her, gently shook her. She blinked and looked over at him. "Are you alright, Miu?"_

_Seeing everyone stare at her, Miu attempted to get her bravado back. "Of course I'm okay, you weasels."_

_Even her insults were lacking._

_. . ._

Maybe he should...check on her, he realized. He needed to make sure she was doing okay. Next to himself, she was his closest friend. She and Kokichi had been friends since junior high. He went to her contact on his phone, and pressed call. He held the phone up to his ear, waiting quietly.

No answer.

He tried again.

She answered just before the sixth ring.

_"Hello?"_

She sounded...different. Sluggish. Tired. Hazy. Was she slurring? Kaito felt dread pool at his gut. "Miu?" he asked in a slightly shaky tone.

 _"The fuck do you want?"_ She was definitely slurring.

"Miu, are you...high?" Kaito asked slowly. There was a snort, and suddenly she hung up. Kaito pulled his phone away from his ear, quickly calling her again. She flat out rejected his call. Now scared, Kaito hurried out of his and Kokichi's shared apartment, running to his truck. He got in, and drove to her apartment.

Once arriving, he ran inside, and banged on her apartment door. "Miu?"

Silence.

"Miu! Open up or I'll pick the lock!"

There was a snort on the other side, but the door clicked, and footsteps walked away. Or, stumbled, it sounded more like. Kaito pushed the door open, and instantly he started gagging. He shut the door and whirled around, horrified. Her living room smelled like weed, and it was a mess. There were several ash trays around, more than a few of them were overloaded with cigarettes and...

"Miu, holy shit, are you fucking smoking weed?"

Maybe if it was just cigarettes, he'd understand, but, weed as well? Wasn't she clean?

"The fuck's it to you?" Miu spat, swaying on her feet. Her blonde hair was so greasy it was matted to her scalp, her normally perfect posture was slouched, her pink nightie was crinkled and stained. She had bags under her eyes. She lit another, and inhaled, closing her eyes. Kaito rushed forward, snatching the lighter away from her.

"What the hell are you doing? Do you really think Kokichi would want this?" He shouted.

Miu's face twisted into anger. "Don't fucking talk about him, you motherfucking shitty ass fuckface!" she coughed, waving her little paper pipe around, smoke following it around, "fuckin' bitchass hypocritical shithole, get the fuck out of my fucking apartment."

"Miu, you need help," Kaito said firmly, yanking the paper pipe away and putting it out, tossing it in one of the ash trays. She huffed, looking pissed off.

"Fine, I'll stop doing weed. Give me my fucking lighter back."

Kaito's brows shot up in disbelief. "I'm not enabling you to fucking smoke a cigarette either."

"I said give me my _fucking lighter_ back!" she shot forward to grab it. Kaito held it just out of reach, thankful that she was barefoot instead of wearing her monstrous heels. As she reached for it, he grabbed her wrist, merely to stop her, but she let out a loud yell of agony. Kaito let go of her instantly as she yanked back, gripping her arm. Tears sprung to her eyes as she glared at him. "Th-the fuck's your problem?" she managed to snap out. Kaito stared at her, suspicious.

"Miu, let me see your wrist."

"The fuck do I need to do that for? You fucking perverted pig with your fucking perverted hand fetish!" she was struggling to stand. Kaito was amazed how almost normal she was acting. Maybe getting high enhanced her usual behavior? He wasn't sure. But he needed to see if she was okay.

Well, she obviously wasn't, but he needed to see what was going on. She clearly wasn't taking care of herself. Even without the smell of smoke, weed, and her appearance- she'd definitely gotten thinner- the smell of her wafted through the air as well. She hadn't bathed since finding out Kokichi was missing. That, he was certain of.

"Miu...I will give you back your lighter if you show me your wrist," Kaito said carefully, though he had no intention of actually giving it back to her. Maybe Kokichi had rubbed off on him too much. Miu scoffed, but relented, holding up her wrist, which was covered by the sleeves of her nightgown.

"There. Now give me my lighter."

Kaito frowned. "Your sleeves were in the way."

"So the fuck what?"

"Show me the skin on your wrists."

When Miu didn't move, Kaito gently grabbed her arm and shoved her sleeves up. His eyes went huge. He'd...had a suspicion of what was going on, but it was worse than he thought.

Burn wounds marred her skin. Ranging from first degree to second degree. Her wrists were very much red, and in some areas, blistering. He sucked in a deep breath and looked up at Miu, who refused to meet his gaze. Yeah, he definitely wasn't going to give her back her lighter.

"Go take a shower," Kaito said in a surprisingly calm voice, "a cold one. After that, bring me some aloe vera, if you have any. If not, I'll text Maki roll and ask her to bring Mikan over."

"Jesus fucking- don't fucking bring the stuttering bitch in here," Miu growled, though she looked defeated, "I have some, okay? Just..."

"Go."

Miu quickly obeyed, stumbling slightly.

Once he heard her close the door to her shower and turn the shower on, Kaito began looking around the apartment for another lighter. He didn't want this to continue. And he knew Kokichi wouldn't want it to continue either. He was already distressed when she talked about it so long ago...

. . .

_"You...you lied to the police about there being a few other people who were getting sent weed?" Kaede looked stunned, staring at Miu._

_"No! He did! I had nothing to do with it! ...But yes, me, Kokichi, Rantaro, and two of his sisters wrote fake letters. It was his idea. The whole thing was. I didn't even do weed at first, he just supplied me with cigarettes when I went through a smoking phase! And one day he just...gave me weed instead and in order to pay it off I sucked him off. It was a dark time for me too, okay? I'm four years clean!" she crossed her heart._

_-_

_"Rantaro knew a good psychiatrist she could go to, and they helped her," Kokichi said. Miu nodded._

_"Yeah. After a few months, I was still craving a cig or some weed, but I was able to fight the urges. Haven't had an urge in three years. But I never touch those now, in case addiction comes back."_

_"Miu's been through shit too," Kokichi moved away from Kaito to pull his longtime best friend over, slinging an arm around her neck, "she's the strongest slut I know."_

. . .

Kaito sighed. If Kokichi knew she'd relapsed, he'd be disappointed, and he would blame himself for it. Hopefully, if they found Kokichi, then Miu would be able to stop before he realizes that she relapsed.

God, how long has this been going on?

Were...his other friends doing similar things? Maybe he should check on everyone individually. He felt selfish to the core. Of course, everyone was coping in their own ways, but Kaito had been focused on himself. He closed his eyes, sighing. He pocketed the lighter, and decided to clean up her living room for now.

He had just finished putting everything in a large trash bag when Miu came out, clean, and in a different nightgown. She held in her hand a bottle of aloe vera and bandages. Kaito sat on the couch and she quietly walked over, handing both items to him. She sat down, and he got to work, rubbing the cold gooey substance on her wrists. She flinched and hissed out, and grimaced when he bandaged her wrists up.

"There," he said quietly. "Please, Miu, don't do this again."

"Fine. Whatever."

Kaito got up, and headed to her kitchen, and, surprised by the lack of food in her house, made her a simple sandwich. He came back with the sandwich on a plate. "Eat. You need to keep your strength up."

Miu did so without argument.

After she finished, she set the plate on the table in front of the couch. Kaito eyed her warily. "Miu?"

"What?"

"Will you be okay?"

She nodded wordlessly.

"Good. Because I'm keeping your lighter," and with that, he started walking out. There was a very brief moment of silence before Miu started running after him, stumbling slightly.

"Wait! Hold the fuck on! You fucking promised! Give me my lighter back!"

Kaito shut the door behind him and walked away. He heard Miu bang on the door a couple times before swinging it open and almost falling into the hallway. "Kaito!" she shouted as he sped up. He glanced back at her. She was on her knees, looking desperate. "Please. Give it back."

He sped up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oop look at that I actually updated


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takuro is getting antsy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh wow an update??? Do yall still exist??

Takuro walked down the aisle of the grocery store, pushing along a cart. He had a hat on, as well as a face full of makeup, in order to hide his appearance. It was always better safe than sorry, honestly. He had on a gray shirt, some jeans, boots, and a large black coat. He honestly just looked like an average dude, just trying to get some shopping done. He added a loaf of bread to his cart and glanced at his list.

"Let's see...eggs, milk, cheese, and some meat," he muttered, and glanced at his cart. He had some minor snacks in there, as well as peanut butter, fruits, and some vegetables. He started to head in the direction of the dairy section, only to freeze when he heard an irritatingly familiar voice just an aisle over.

"Uncle...I'm really worried."

Why was the voice familiar?

It took Takuro moments to remember that it was because this was the same young man who testified against his nephew well over a year ago. He gritted his teeth, fury flashing in his eyes. He took a deep, quiet breath and slowly released, and kept listening to the conversation.

"...It'll be alright, Shuichi. I promise. How about we go fishing?" another voice said. One that Takuro knew well. Detective Jiro Saihara. His eyebrows raised. So then Shuichi Saihara was his nephew, huh? Unfiltered anger started to course through his veins. It wasn't fair. Why did this brat Shuichi get to stay with his uncle? Why did Jiro Saihara get to keep his nephew? He wanted revenge. He wanted to strangle them both.

But he couldn't.

And that pissed him off more than anything.

It would become glaringly obvious he was the culprit if he went after Kokichi's friends.

He supposed he could just take his anger out on the little brat in his basement.

It was his fault that all of this happened in the first place.

He gripped the handle of his cart and continued on, not sparing a glance at the two detectives. If he did, he knew Jiro would catch his look, and figure him out. However, what he didn't know was he was suspicious from the start.

~

"Uncle, is it really a good idea to be out here shopping when we still have so much to do? I- I mean, I have food at home, and you do too, you just went grocery shopping the other day," Shuichi stuttered out. Jiro hummed, a small smile on his face.

"Shuichi, you need to learn to relax. If you overwork yourself, you'll end up in the hospital," he said, "and besides, I forgot to buy a couple things," he put some mustard in his cart. Shuichi sighed, running his hand through his hair. He never understood his uncle. One moment he was a serious detective, and the next, he was acting like he didn't have any cases.

He's done this with minor cases before, but Shuichi couldn't help but notice his uncle seemed more wary of his surroundings. Maybe it was because it was a kidnapping case? Shuichi wasn't one hundred percent certain. It was hard to tell with his uncle. Shuichi himself struggled to figure him out.

As they headed down an aisle, Shuichi fiddled with the hem of his shirt. Jiro didn't even look at him. "Shuichi, what's wrong?"

Shuichi remained silent as they walked, finally stopping at the end of the aisle so Jiro could pick up some canned goods. He hesitated, then spoke. "Uncle...I'm really worried." he confessed.

"About what?"

"Kokichi. The case. What if we don't find him? He's...he's one of my best friends. I just don't want anything to happen to him. I want him back alive, uncle," tears filled Shuichi's eyes. He wiped them away sloppily, "he's only been my friend for awhile, but I care about him."

"It'll be alright, Shuichi. I promise. How about we go fishing?" he asked nonchalantly.

Shuichi stared at him, eyes wide with disbelief. "Fishing?" he repeated incredulously, "why? Uncle, you're...you're not serious? Are you?" he asked, his hands shaking. Why on earth would his uncle suggest this? He noted the light smirk on his uncle's face as he stared ahead. Shuichi turned and saw a man with a hat, face of makeup, and dark clothes walking by, hastily pushing a cart.

"Yes, Shuichi. Fishing. We're going to catch some fish."

Shuichi's eyes widened.

"Well, I think we're done here. Come along, Shuichi. Let's go check out."

After the two headed off, they purchased the few items Jiro had tossed in his cart and left. Saihara headed for Jiro's car, but Jiro pulled him to a different car. The one he drove in. It was a rental he'd gotten the other day for this specific reason. They got in. He had parked somewhat close to the exit of the parking lot, so they could catch anyone leaving or entering, while he had Shuichi park closer to the front of the store, where anyone could see it coming out of the store.

"Uncle? What's going on?"

"I have my suspicions on who the kidnapper is."

Shuicih's lips parted. "You do?"

"I do. And I know him well."

"What..? Who is it?"

"Takuro Emon."

"What? Haruto's uncle? But why? You know him? Uncle, what's going on?" Shuichi fired question after question. Jiro gently hushed him and leaned back in his seat, humming a little before finally answering.

"When you were in class, I've been recalling Takuro's schedule. When Takuro was a kid, his father was a deranged serial killer. He killed lots of women. He needed a set schedule in order to get away with his crimes. He was also a doctor, he worked a lot of morning shifts. Early morning shifts. So he would go to the store when he got off in the evening, or even into the night, every Friday. He was well known and well beloved."

Shuichi's brows furrowed. "Okay but...that doesn't explain what that has to do with Takuro."

"Patience, Shuichi. Because of his schedule, he was never truly suspected. For the past two weeks, while you were in classes, I've been coming to the store daily, staying here until roughly seven. And Takuro came on Friday, at six. So the next Friday, at five thirty, I came here, and sure enough, at six, he arrived. So this week, I figured he'd be here again. And I needed to put him on edge, to see if he would slip up. I'm a little impressed he managed to hide himself still. But he didn't hide himself enough," Jiro smirked slightly.

"What do you mean?"

"When I watched Jiro the past two times he brought his groceries out, he walked at a leisurely pace. Even in the store, he did. There was no hurry. He was completely relaxed. However, I noticed him walk by us, and he was completely tensed up and avoided all eye contact. His steps were quicker than usual, by maybe a second or two. He disguised himself well, and if it wasn't for the pace of his walking, I wouldn't have noticed him. He wore different outfits each time he was here," Jiro explained.

Shuichi's eyes widened. "You figured all of this out...after twenty days?"

"Yes. I'm loathe to admit it took so long, but detective work requires a lot of patience. Besides," Jiro's eyes danced in amusement, "he takes the same truck everytime he shops. I didn't get the license plate the first two times as I was focused more on making sure it was him, and writing down his schedule, his pace, how he presents himself...but this time, we'll get it."

Shuichi sat back in the passenger seat. "But how did you know he was going to have a schedule like this?"

Jiro's face fell. "Ah. That. Well..." he sighed, "I was childhood friends with him."

"You were...you were _what_?!"

"As a child, I did not know of his father's true occupation. But I remember how Takuro always talked about wanting to be just like his father. I wasn't sure if this would work at first, it was a stretch, but he's following the same steps as his father, just like he'd always wanted to."

"Amazing..." Shuichi breathed. Jiro suddenly leaned over.

"Get down. He's coming out."

The two slouched, enough to not be seen by Takuro, if he was paying attention, but enough to see him.

Shuichi watched as he loaded his groceries in his trunk. He couldn't see the license plate from where he was, but he'd be able to see it when he drove by. Takuro glanced over at Jiro's car, and quickly slammed his trunk shut and got in the driver's seat. After a moment, he pulled out and began driving.

Jiro got his notepad out. "Okay, Shuichi, when he drives by, read his license plate out loud for me."

"Uh..." Shuichi kept his eyes trained on the truck as it drove by. When Takuro stopped the truck by the entrance to wait on other cars to stop, Shuichi read the license plate out loud. Jiro wrote it down quickly, and repeated it as Takuro drove off.

Shuichi nodded. "Yes. You got it."

Takuro's truck was out of sight after that.

Jiro sat up, smirking. "We did it, Shuichi. Let's get this back to my office so we can do a little digging."

Shuichi managed a big, wide, genuine smile.

"Yeah!"

~

Kokichi's eyes opened. He didn't remember passing out. He'd tried not to pass out earlier, afraid that Takuro was going to be in his nightmares again. For...god knows how long, he's been haunted by what's been going on. It seemed like when Kokichi was awake, he was able to think about his life, his friends, his boyfriend...and that was the only solace he truly had. He saw Takuro during the day- or, he assumed was day, and he saw him in his dreams. The moment Takuro wasn't torturing him were the most cherished moments.

It was sad, really.

He swallowed a dry lump in his throat. God, how long had it been since he was trapped here? It almost felt like home at this point.

He missed his friends. He missed Kaito. He wanted to be in Kaito's arms again. He wanted to cry and beg for Kaito to protect him. He wanted Takuro to rot with Haruto in prison, never to see the light of day again. Tears filled his violet eyes.

How could thinking of someone bring him so much pain and comfort at the same time?

"Kaito..." he whispered, "please, please save me..."

He could practically hear Kaito whispering to him. Whispering soft promises of him being safe, of being happy, promising a better life. He could practically feel Kaito's strong, warm embrace. Thinking of it was the only thing keeping him sane.

He missed Kaito so much...

The door to the basement slammed open, and feet came charging down the stairs. Kokichi tensed up, fear coursing through his veins.

Takuro came over, undoing his binds. "We're leaving."

"Wh-what?"

"Fucking Detective Saihara is on the case. I'm not taking any chances of staying here. We're going. Now."

Kokichi's eyes widened. Detective Saihara..? Shuichi's uncle? And knowing that, then Shuichi should be following the case as well. He wasn't a lost cause. He had hope that he could get out of here. It was only a matter of time before he could be found!

_'Alright. If they're trying to find me...I'll try to meet them halfway.'_

Takuro heaved him up, and once he was up, Kokichi instantly collapsed. He hadn't gotten up in a long time. He couldn't even walk anymore. He was helpless. Takuro gagged him, and tied his arms behind his back. He all but dragged him up the stairs, and went to the garage. Kokichi trembled as Takuro opened the trunk and tossed him inside. "Everything's packed up and ready. Say goodbye to your hometown, Kokichi."

And with that, he slammed the trunk shut.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slow updates. I'm into other fandoms and it's hard to focus on dgr aaa-


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miu isn't okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Huaa! A fast update!

Miu cried out as the stranger in front of her continued thrusting inside of her. "Shit," she moaned as she felt him speeding up. Her pussy clenched tightly around him, and she suddenly yelled out as she came. "Pull out," she groaned, "or I'll fucking slit your throat."

The guy hesitated but he pulled out as pre-cum leaked. He started to jerk off, but Miu batted his hands away, leaning over to take his cum soaked dick in her mouth. The guy moaned and fisted her hair, yanking. She moaned around his cock, sucking until he came in her mouth. She pulled away with a soft _pop_ , wiping her mouth and swallowing. She leaned back into bed as the guy relaxed. She glanced at him. "Got a cig?"

"Yeah," the guy, who Miu didn't even know his name, reached down to his bag and grabbed two cigarettes and a lighter. He lit one for her and handed it over. She took it, and inhaled, slowly blowing the smoke, relaxing. The guy lit one up for himself as well. He shut his lighter and set it aside. "So, what now?"

Miu snorted. "What do you mean, what now?"

"Are we...you know?" he asked. When Miu raised her eyebrows, he tried to elaborate. "Are we dating now?"

She barked out a sharp laugh. "Us? Dating? No way, asshole. You are so out of my league. I came here for a one night stand and that's it. I have to get back to my girlfriend anyway," she took a swig of her cigarette and got up, the cigarette resting between two fingers as she walked to the window, ignoring the fact she knew he was staring at her ass. There was a pause.

"You cheated on your girlfriend?"

"So the fuck what if I did?"

"That's-" the guy got up, slamming his cigarette on the nightstand and putting it out. "I _never_ would have slept with you if I knew you were a fucking _slut_!" he snapped. Miu whirled around, her icy blue eyes blaring in fury.

"You don't fucking know me! You don't know what the fuck I'm going through! You don't have the goddamn _right_ to judge me!" she screamed.

The guy clenched his fists. "Maybe I fucking don't, but I don't want to sleep with someone who already has a partner. If you had left it at we had a one night stand, I would have accepted that. But you-" he shook his head, "you're awful. I feel sorry for your girlfriend. She deserves better than you."

Miu laughed, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, you think I don't fucking know that already?! Nice try, asshole."

The guy shook his head in disbelief and got up, grabbing his clothes and slipping them on, storming out of the room. Miu stood by the window, cigarette still in hand, all of her clothes still discarded on the floor. She glared at the door. "Yeah, run away, fucking asshole! Your dick was nothing but a shriveled up soggy lego anyway!" she screamed. No response. She scowled heavily. "Tch. What a fucking loser," she said out loud, walking shamelessly to the door, ignoring the party going on downstairs. She slammed the door shut, sitting on the bed.

She then noticed something.

His lighter was still on the nightstand. She smirked.

It was hers now.

After a few minutes, she put her cigarette out and got dressed, grabbing the lighter and sticking it in her skirt pocket. She opened the door and went down to the bar. She fixed her hair as a few guys wolf whistled at her. She offered a flirty wink and a smirk, making sure to strut as she sat by the bar, crossing her legs. Just as she was about to order something, a new guy walked over, eyeing her hungrily. "Hey, gorgeous. Can I buy you something?"

Miu leaned back, letting her low-cut mini-dress fall slightly lower. He was definitely eyeing her cleavage. She licked her lips. "Go for it, baby. How about some shots? I wanna get..." she leaned closer to him, pressing her breasts to his arm. "... _really_ drunk."

His eyes stayed trained on her chest. "Yeah?" he rumbled, "what do you wanna do when you're drunk?"

"I want to get railed harder than ever," she purred. She had no other plans to sleep with anyone else, but she knew exactly what to say in order to get her free drinks. The guy instantly turned to the bartender and paid for some strong vodka for the two of them. But now...how to ditch the guy?

"I know," she smiled, "let's see who can handle the most shots. Whoever does...is the winner," she giggled, twirling her hair on a finger, "the winner gets to decide what sort of naughty things to do in bed."

"It's a deal," the guy responded eagerly, and at once, the two started their competition. Around their fourth shot, Miu deliberately spilled her shot all over her cleavage, causing the guy to gulp and stare.

"Oopsie, clumsy me," she sighed, and hooked a leg over his, "wanna clean it off me?" she grabbed his hand and rubbed her chest with it, watching him shudder and bit back a smirk when she saw him get harder and harder. She got another shot and downed it. "Maybe if you win you can play with my girls," she tilted her dress down further.

He got another shot in response.

Around their eighth shot, he was drunk out of his mind, while Miu was drunk, but sober enough to manipulate the situation. "Oh look, there's the girl who said she'd sleep with you," she slurred, pointing at some random girl.

The guy looked lost. "But...but that's my sister. I came with her..." he hiccuped.

"Are you sure? Go ask her if she's the one who promised to sleep with you. I think she ran away."

"No..." the guy whined and stumbled off the chair, going after his sister. Miu watched in amusement as her asked her. She looked confused and annoyed and handed him her water bottle. Miu cackled and left.

As she stumbled down the street, she realized...she had no idea where she was. Muttering curses, she took her phone from her pocket and found Kaede's number. She pressed call and waited.

 _"Hello?"_ Kaede's sleepy voice answered after the fifth ring.

"Hey Kaede," Miu slurred and giggled.

_"Miu? It's two thirty in the morning, are you drunk?"_

"Maybe."

_"Are you at home?"_

"No."

_"Where are you?"_

"Dunno. Some party. I was hopin' you can pick me up," Miu snickered. She faintly heard Kaede talking to someone in the background and Kaede came back on the phone.

_"Okay, Tenko and I are gonna come get you."_

"Kay."

_"Where are you exactly?"_

"Uhh..." Miu looked at the nearby buildings. "I'm by that dumb bear cafe. The panda one that's not really a panda," she explained.

_"Oh, the one by that one two story bar?"_

"Yeah."

 _"Okay. Stay there. We're coming to get you,"_ Kaede instructed and hung up. Miu hung up as well and waited, reaching into her pocket and taking the lighter. She giggled. She couldn't believe she got a new lighter. For free, at that! After a few minutes, a guy walked by her, and bumped into her, making her drop the lighter. It fell and clattered into the sewer. She whirled around.

"The fuck was that for, asshole?" she screamed, stumbling slightly from the sudden turn.

The guy turned to look at her. "What?"

"You made me lose my fucking lighter!" she snapped.

He rolled his eyes. "Okay. Then go buy another."

"You buy me another, shithead!" she stumbled forward and pushed him. He pushed her back, causing her to fall on the concrete. He shook his head, muttering something under his breath as he continued off. Miu started wailing. Minutes pass, and a car pulls up. Kaede rushed out, dropping beside her.

"Miu? Are you okay?"

She opened her mouth to respond, but then she flung forward, retching all over Kaede's sweatpants. Kaede grimaced in disgust, but helped Miu up after she finished. "Come on, we're taking you back to Tenko's." She helped her in the back seat of the car. Tenko sat quietly in the passenger seat, her olive green eyes flickering back to glance at Miu, a frown on her face. Kaede got in the driver's seat and started the car. Tenko's nose wrinkled when she smelled the two blondes, but she still didn't say anything.

When they arrived, Tenko turned to Kaede. "Go clean up. You can borrow my pajamas. Just toss those in the laundry. I'll take care of Miu," she said. Kaede smiled at her gratefully and whispered "thank you" before pecking her cheek and going inside.

Miu watched lazily as Tenko got out of the car and walked over to where Miu was sitting in the car, opening the door and helping her out. "Don't throw up on me, if you need to throw up, wait until we're inside and in the bathroom," Tenko mumbled, though her eyes were glistening in worry.

"Sure," Miu snorted, leaning on the shorter girl for support.

Tenko managed to help Miu inside struggling quietly. She set her in the bathroom, in case she needed to throw up again, and left. She came back with a glass of water and some pajamas.

"These are gonna be a little small for you, but it's better than nothing," Tenko offered. Her figure was smaller than Miu's was, and she was approximately three inches shorter than her. Miu flopped over.

"Don't need 'em. I sleep naked," she snickered when she saw the flustered expression on Tenko's face. Nevertheless, Miu did accept the water. Kaede walked in afterwards, now dressed in a gray long sleeved shirt and light pink pajama bottoms with white spots on it.

"How are you feeling, Miu? Do you need me to call Angie?"

Any remaining amusement died. Miu felt her eyes welling up with tears. "No!" she shouted, and promptly began to choke. Tenko and Kaede rushed over, patting her back until she calmed down. Miu began sobbing afterwards. "I'm sorry don't tell her I did it..." she begged.

"Don't tell her you did what?" Kaede asked tentatively.

"I cheated on her!" Miu sniffled, remorse filling her up. What was she thinking? She just wanted to feel good and forget all of her pain, and she impulsively ran off to get laid by some stranger, "I slept with some random douchebag..." she wailed.

"Calm down, Miu," Kaede insisted, "Angie will always forgive you."

"She won't...she deserves better," Miu repeated the words the guy who'd fucked her said. Tenko chimed in at this point.

"Maybe, but Angie wants you, Miu. She loves you. She's all...you know? All forgiving and stuff."

"I'll go call her. You two need to talk tomorrow morning," Kaede sighed, "if you hide this from her, it'll only make things worse."

Miu let out a choked sob as Tenko rubbed her shoulder. Kaede got up and left to go call Angie. Minutes later, she returned, biting her lip. "She'll be by tomorrow morning at ten. Get some rest for now, Miu. We'll wake you up beforehand so you can shower and eat." And with that, the girls lead Miu to the couch in the living room, where, after several more minutes of crying, Miu passed out.

-

Sure enough, the next morning, at a quarter to nine, Tenko woke Miu up as Kaede made coffee and got some painkillers for Miu, who silently took them. Tenko instructed her to go shower, and Kaede brought her some of her clothes that she always left at Tenko's, as she was over often.

The skirt was a little small, and the shirt was nothing like what Miu would normally wear- it was a white button up shirt with an orange plaid skirt. Miu left the first several buttons undone, revealing her cleavage, as any clothes that actually covered her cleavage made her feel suffocated. Plus, she was proud of her breasts.

She waited quietly for Angie to arrive.

When she did, Kaede and Tenko let them talk in Tenko's bedroom, and shut the door and headed to the kitchen to give the two girls some privacy.

"Kaede said you wanted to talk to me? Atua says it's not a good talk, though," Angie hummed, smiling.

Miu stared down. "Angie...you know I love you, right?" her voice cracked.

"Of course!"

"And you know I'm really stupid sometimes..."

"Yep!"

"I...Angie I..." Miu took a deep breath, "I cheated on you. I slept with some random guy last night." She expected Angie to say something. But there was silence. Hesitantly, Miu looked up to see Angie's reaction. As she expected, Angie wasn't smiling anymore. Her face was blank. Seeing Miu's aghast expression, she forced a smile. Miu could tell from where she was and through her hangover it was forced.

"Oh! N-no, it's fine! Atua says we all make mistakes..."

"Angie..."

"He says to forgive everyone because we all get lost sometimes..!"

"Angie."

"And I know that Kokichi's disappearance is affecting you, so it's fi-"

"Angie!" Miu shouted and leaped forward, pinning the short girl down on the bed. Miu was shaking, tears in her eyes. "You don't have to fucking forgive me. I know what I did was fucking wrong. I _know_ I hurt you. I've been selfish and awful and...goddammit, you're such a fucking _saint_. I don't deserve you. It'd be better if you fucking _broke up with me!_ " 

"No..." Angie's fake smile broke into one of fear. Tears began filling her ocean blue eyes, "I...Atua says-"

" _Forget_ whatever the fuck Atua says! Get angry! Be hurt! _You're allowed to have feelings!_ " Miu screamed.

Angie's lower lip started to tremble. "My mom and dad said feelings got in the way of what Atua wants. I can't just disobey-"

"You can! You're a fucking human being! Tell me what you really think, what you really want! Forget about Atua and be yourself!"

The tears in Angie's eyes began to spill down her tanned cheeks. "I want...to stay with you. I want to be with you, Miu! I feel horrible knowing you cheated on me! I feel like I'm never good enough! That my- my stupid religion will never make anything better! But that's all I know! I only know about Atua, and his will! Is- is it wrong for me to want to not forgive you for hurting me?! Yet...I do, I do forgive you, Miu...because I do understand you're hurting too. I don't want you to leave me. I don't want to break up with you. I love you, Miu!"

"You stupid... _stupid_ , idiot," Miu whispered brokenly, lowering her head so her forehead rested on Angie's. Angie clung to her and let out a sob.

"It hurts," Angie whispered, "I can't stand...not being able to do anything to help anyone when all I know is Atua. Everyone hates it when I talk about him. But that's the only way I know how to help. I'm so useless."

"No, Angie," Miu said shakily, "it's not your fault. And no matter what stupid shit I've done, I'll always love you."

"Don't leave me," Angie whimpered, "please, please, _please_ don't leave me..."

"I won't..."

The two girls stayed on Tenko's bed for a long time after that, clinging to eachother and crying.

It was going to be okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The guys who Miu interacted with are just random OCs. No real characters. They're not important.  
> But wow that got way more angsty than intended.  
> :D I honestly love the idea that Angie was forced to throw her feelings away to serve Atua, and that she feels like she's not allowed to feel human. It just sorta...came to me? :) maybe this way, people will actually love Angie. She's way too hated.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaito has an epiphany.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oop oop I'm back again? So soon? Yall I think my Dgr love has been revived. Of course, I'm also focused on my yttd fic. But like! Aren't yall proud of me? I haven't abandoned this fic because another exists like I normally do! :D

When Shuichi came to Kaito's apartment at night, he was surprised to see his side kick with a dejected look on his face. He looked like he wanted to cry. Instantly, Kaito stepped aside to let him in. "Shuichi! What's the matter, dude? You look awful," he ushered him in and shut the door. Shuichi walked to the couch and sat down slowly, hunching over and burying his face in his palms. His shoulders were shaking. He let out a choked noise.

"I'm so sorry, Kaito."

At those words, Kaito felt anxiety and dread punch him in the gut. Did Shuichi and his uncle...find Kokichi..? No, he was alive. He had to be. He wasn't the type to die so easily. But still...Kaito took a sharp, shaky breath and slowly released it. "Why? You don't need to apologize for anything."

"I...we swore...we...I just," Shuichi was stammering now.

"Deep breaths, dude, calm down, and take your time."

Shuichi took a slow and deep inhale, and slowly exhaled. He dropped his hands but continued staring down. "Earlier, I was investigating with my uncle, right? Well, we were on a stakeout, and we..." he paused and backtracked, "my uncle knows the kidnapper. And...and we do too."

"What? We do?" Kaito's eyes widened, "well shit, who is it?"

"Takuro Emon."

Kaito stared at Shuichi blankly. "Who?"

Shuichi fiddled with his fingers. "He...he's Haruto's uncle, remember?" Shuichi asked quietly. Kaito stared at him, before he let out a gasp when he finally did remember.

~

_A few more minutes pass before a couple walk in. There was a woman with graying black hair pulled up in a bun, with narrow black eyes, and a black dress with a gray coat over it. She looked tired and worried, yet still stood tall. She was probably a little taller than Kaede. The man, however, had a dark presence. His hair was jet black, his eyes a very sharp electric blue, and even with a black tux on, his body was buff. He was tall, too, taller than Kaito. Roughly, Kaito would have to say this man had at least three inches on him. His whole presence was intimidating._

_"Are you, by any chance, Haruto's aunt and uncle?"_

_Itsuko's smile dimmed. "Yes, we are. This is my husband, Takuro."_

_Takuro didn't say anything. He glared a terrifying death glare at all of them. Or, more specifically, Kokichi. Or was that Kaito's imagination? He gently tugged Kokichi back to sit down._

~

"Holy shit, I remember him!" Kaito blurted, his eyes widening. Shuichi flinched slightly at his sudden loud voice and calmed himself. "I remember him. He was that tall guy who kept glaring at Kichi."

Shuichi nodded. "Right. Well...my uncle had his suspicions and we got his license plate earlier. We went back to his office and found his address."

"Well, that's great, isn't it?"

"In theory, yeah, but..." Shuichi bit his lip, "I think we were found out. The house was completely empty when we got there."

"Fuck," Kaito hissed, clenching his fists in anger, "just when we thought we caught up to him..."

"He escapes," Shuichi finished, running his hands through his hair. "I have no idea where he could be. I tried to get in contact with the best detective in the country, that woman...Kyoko Kirigiri? But her staff had answered and said she already has a huge line of clients, and it could take months to get to me."

"We don't have months," Kaito deflated.

"Exactly."

They fell silent. An idea started forming in Kaito's head, and he slowly looked up. "Maybe we don't have to wait months to get a new lead," he said slowly. Shuichi looked at him in confusion.

"Kaito?"

"I'll get this solved," Kaito said confidently, though he had his own doubts. He just hoped it could go well.

-

It took a full week to get situated. To get everything settled, and a date finalized. A full week of not even knowing if his plan was going to work. It gave Kaito time to fully think about his plan and how likely it was it wasn't going to work. God, he could only hope. He missed Kokichi so much.

He was patted down, and checked before he was lead to a room, where other visitors sat across tables, prisoners, still handcuffed, were on the other side of the tables. Kaito sat at an empty table and waited.

Minutes later, the doors opened and some guards escorted a familiar face in. The man in question sat across from Kaito.

"Well, it certainly has been awhile, huh Kaito?"

"It has. I'm pretty disappointed I have to see your face again, Haruto. As disgusting as it looks now."

It was true. Haruto did look worse than before. Before, his black hair was slicked back with hair gel, his face clear, sharp, defined. But now, his hair without the gel looked even worse than it did at the trial, almost two years ago. It was shaggy, drooping slightly past his shoulders, his cheeks were more sunken in, he had more than a stubble but not quite a beard, and he looked more boney. Kaito almost pitied him. Almost.

Haruto smirked. "And you look the same as ever."

"I have questions for you."

"Of course you do, why else would you be here? Come on, it's about a year and a half and not once have you visited me," he observed his hands, as if they were interesting with the cuffs on, "you're wanting to know about Kokichi, am I right?"

"Yeah," Kaito gripped his denim pants, "what can you tell me?"

"You know, prison's actually a pretty cozy place once you get used to it."

"Don't change the subject," Kaito hissed.

Haruto cocked an eyebrow and smirked. "But why should I answer you? You punched me during my arrest, remember? So why should I help you?" At this, Kaito bit his tongue. Oh yeah. He remembered punching Haruto alright.

-

_"Why am I being arrested? I'm just visiting! Get your hands off me! I'm innocent! I said get off me!" Haruto was shouting._

_"Sir," one of the officers said sternly, "you have the right to remain silent."_

_"I have the right to talk all I fucking want!" Haruto snapped, moving to attempt to flee. Several officers held him back, all the while Haruto resisted. Kaito felt his blood boil. He stormed closer. Haruto finally stopped, looking up at Kaito. "Oh, it's you. Kaito, tell the police they made a mistake," he hissed._

_Kaito stared at Haruto. Then, he did something he's wanted to do ever since meeting him in the cafeteria a good month ago._

_He balled his right hand into a fist and stepped back, pulling his arm back, and punched Haruto square in the face._

_The police didn't even get on to him. Kaito supposed they were just really fucking sick of Haruto's shit. Blood seeped from Haruto's nose. "My nose! You broke it! Officers, arrest him! He assaulted me! I demand a lawyer!"_

_The officers shoved the feisty man into the back of one of the cars. One officer who hadn't been holding Haruto, glanced at Kaito._

_"Thank you. He was being too loud," the officer said dryly._

_"He's sick," one of the ones who had been flanking him shook his head, "seriously, who attempts to sexually assault a coma patient then attempts to strangle them?"_

-

"I only punched you because you sexually assaulted Kokichi while he was in a coma and attempted to kill him," Kaito said in a low tone, "I had every right to punch you right then and there."

"And I have every right to not tell you anything!" Haruto said cheerfully.

"Where is he?" Kaito asked anyway, shaking, "Shuichi and his uncle found your uncle's home, but he wasn't there. Where else could he be?"

A surprised look crossed over Haruto's face. "My uncle was found out, huh...I knew he was incompetent. What a fool."

Kaito glared at him. "As if you're not a fool? You attempted assault and murder _in a damn hospital_!"

Haruto shrugged. "And? Kokichi deserved it. And knowing my uncle, knowing the history of my family..." a faraway look crossed his face for a moment, and he shook his head and smirked, the viciousness returning to his eyes. "Kokichi is as good as dead. I wouldn't put it past my uncle to have killed him by now. How long has he been missing?" he mocked.

Kaito gritted his teeth. "About a month now. Two more days marks a full month."

"So it's June seventh now?"

"Yes."

"Nice, nice. We don't have calendars or anything here, so it's hard to keep track."

"Enough beating around the bush, where has your uncle taken Kokichi?" Kaito snapped.

Haruto rose his eyebrows. "Honestly? I don't have a clue. Well, I mean, I have a couple destinations in mind, but I'm not going to tell you anything. And you can't make me either without being escorted out," he smirked, his face smug.

"Then tell me this, is he still in our Prefecture?" Kaito demanded.

Haruto mulled it over for a moment. "Maybe."

"Maybe?"

"But also maybe not. I don't know what my uncle plans on doing. But that makes it all the more fun, huh? I don't know, so I can safely say this as I watch you squirm and pointlessly search for Kokichi, knowing it's highly likely that it's too late to save him," Haruto let out a low cackle.

"You're fucking detestable."

"I know," Haruto looked even more amused.

"How can you live with yourself? Do you seriously not feel any remorse for what happened?"

-

_The officers in charge of Haruto when he was in jail spoke up, claiming he was on good behavior, but he always had this maniacal smirk on his face. The officers in charge of Haruto's arrest explained how he resisted arrest, and when they checked his apartment they found Kokichi's stolen underwear. Poor Kokichi looked mortified at the news._

_Hearing the defense proved to be extremely difficult. The judge questioned Haruto's actions, and Haruto denied everything. He claimed he only ever did what needed to be done, and that he was innocent. His lawyer claimed that his previous crimes years ago should not effect him now, as there had been no complaint, and argued that Kokichi likely owed Haruto sex, and that Kokichi probably 'forgot' that he let Haruto in, and he fled in a moment of fear, and that Haruto was just keeping his 'end of the deal' when he went inside the hospital, and claimed that Mikan probably saw wrong, that he wasn't strangled._

_Haruto was lead out in cuffs, never to be seen again, his face twisted in anger._

-

"I don't," Haruto replied flippantly, "why should I? If I believe I'm doing the right thing, then I know I am. That's exactly what my uncle taught me."

"What about your aunt?" Kaito asked.

Haruto rolled his eyes. "Aunt Itsuko? What about her? She's just a failure of a wife and woman," he spat.

"She cared about you."

"As she should."

"And you hurt her."

"So?"

"Oh my fucking- how can you be so heartless?" Kaito asked.

Haruto simply shrugged, looking completely uninterested. "So, are you done? Is that all you came to talk to me about? This isn't as fun as our talk about Kokichi. I may not know the specifics, but I bet my uncle is making him suffer, and I can only hope he tells me all about it once he's dead."

"You _fucking_ -!" Kaito stood up.

"Officer! I'm scared!" Haruto cried out. One guard rushed over, glaring at Kaito, who stepped back, bewildered.

The guard didn't look very forgiving. "Visiting time is over. Please leave," he pointed at the door as he stood Haruto up. He started escorting him back to his cell. As they walked, Haruto turned and glanced at him, sticking his tongue out with a smug smile on his face.

Kaito left. He was trembling. God, he hated Haruto. He buried his face in his hands as he walked outside. It was cloudy, and it was evening time. He felt like dropping to his knees and screaming. He should have known this plan wasn't going to work- he wasted a week for this stupid plan, and now he was needlessly frustrated.

_'Kokich...you are alive...aren't you?'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Haruto makes his first and only appearance! Well technically there were flashbacks but, eh. Doesn't count. :) do yall miss him being the antagonist?  
> Let me know! Who's the better antagonist? Did you like Haruto more, or do you like Takuro more? (Not necessarily like, but, like as a character!)


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> :)c

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This gets a wee bit bloody graphic! I had to change the archive warnings  
> prolly too late but I mean, yall came here from WITD so who cares?

"Scream for me, Kokichi Ouma! Scream!" Takuro shouted, dragging his knife down Kokichi's torso. Kokichi let out an ear piercing scream of agony as the knife split his skin open, blood gushing everywhere. He yanked on the ropes that binded him to the new bed. He'd been there for over a week now. In a new room. It wasn't even a basement- there was no need for him to be in a basement. They were in the middle of nowhere. Takuro had told him this from the start.

. . .

_The car stopped moving and after lots of fiddling, the trunk was opened. It was night time still...or, had it been longer than a day? It didn't feel like they'd traveled for a very long time. Not long enough for it to have been hours. Takuro leaned over and yanked Kokichi up, and as he was lifted he got a view of his surroundings. There was a forest, and that was it. It probably wasn't a big forest or anything, if they didn't drive very much, but Kokichi couldn't say for sure._

_"Where..?" he managed to croak out._

_"We're out of town, quite literally in the middle of nowhere," the smirk in Takuro's voice was evident._

_Kokichi didn't say a word. He was taken inside. He wasn't sure who's house this was- maybe it belonged to Takuro? Having two houses was possible, right? Well, it didn't matter. He was taken upstairs, to a room with a small window. Small enough to look out, but not jump out of. It was round, roughly the size of his head._

_At least he'd know what time of day it was now._

_. . ._

Takuro ripped the knife away from Kokichi, laughing as he wailed in pain. He set the knife down and grabbed a cloth, wiping up the blood and grabbed his medical kit, and, to Kokichi's dread, began stitching his wounds sloppily.

It hurt. It didn't hurt nearly as much as the actual torture, but it still hurt. It was uncomfortable. It was like his skin was being tugged back together. He couldn't stop the tears from falling down his face. Takuro simply scoffed at him.

"Stop whining, you've had all of this coming to you for a long time now. Remember, Kokichi, none of this would have happened if you didn't put Haruto in prison," he reminded him. Kokichi sagged, his eyes glazed.

_Maybe...Takuro's right. And this is all my fault. If I just...sucked it up with Haruto...then none of this would have happened..._

A face appeared in his mind. Who..? Ah...it was Kaito. Right. He had Kaito. Kaito and...Miu. And Shuichi, Rantaro, Kaede, and the rest. They were all waiting for him. He couldn't...let his mind slip. Not now. He had to remain strong.

"I don't like the look you have on your face," Takuro growled out, slamming a fist against the wooden headboard. It made the bed tremble and Kokichi's wrists move. He bit his lip. He had to think fast now.

"I miss my boyfriend," he whimpered, deciding not to mention the ropes felt...looser. He had an idea, after all.

Takuro rolled his eyes and muttered something about Kokichi being a drama queen. When he finished stitching the long wound, he got up. "I have to go get medical supplies tomorrow. I can't do it today because those crummy detectives will find out easily. I'll leave soon." And with that, he left him alone.

Kokichi fought his hardest not to pass out, despite the fact he really wanted to. He was in pain. His new wound was hurting, it stretched from his left chest, all the way down to his stomach. He had several cuts, scars, stab wounds, burn wounds, some stitched up and some slightly healed over. He had bruises. His left kneecap was still broken, as Takuro made sure to hurt it daily to make sure it didn't heal. His right ankle was better than it had been before, but he knew he still couldn't walk on it.

He wanted to sleep so badly. His eyes were burning and drooping. But this...could be his only chance. Takuro left once a week, even Kokichi knew this, and if he couldn't escape now, then he'd have to wait another week before he had another opportunity.

Everytime his eyes would drift shut, his mind would go back to Kaito, and his eyes would snap open.

He wanted to see his boyfriend and friends again.

That determination was what kept him awake.

Kokichi wasn't sure what time it was, but after god knows how long, he heard the front door slam, and faintly, he heard the sound of the car being turned on. He was leaving. Now was his chance. He had to hurry.

He tugged at the ropes, notably looser than before, biting his lip. They were still tight, but he could move them. Maybe, just maybe, since he was so small and boney he could just...slide them out.

He struggled.

"Come on...please..." Kokichi whispered, tugging and yanking at the ropes. It hurt his wrist too much to pull free, and yet...he groaned.

He'd been at this for several minutes. What if they weren't far from his hometown at all and Takuro was on his way back? It was that thought that put him in panic. He took a deep breath and focused on his right wrist. He began tugging and yanking, and slowly, he felt it slip free...but his victory wasn't without price. Blood started gushing slowly from his wrist. It was as if he was being skinned. He cried out as he kept tugging. The rope was around to his knuckles now. He was almost done. Just...a little more...he gave one final yank, and his bloody hand flung out.

Kokichi nearly cried in relief. He managed to sit up a bit and turned his body to his left hand. He reached out for it, fiddling desperately with the rope with his shaky hand. Thankfully, much to Kokichi's genuine joy, the rope loosened enough for him to pull free without hurting his other hand. He looked around. He didn't see any of his clothes...were they even brought? Maybe they were in a different part of the house?

He didn't have time to look around.

He got off the bed and, predictably, he collapsed. He grunted as he struggled to get to his feet. It wasn't only the pain that made it hard to get up, but the fact he'd been in a bed for a shit long time. He held on to the bed as he got up. He stumbled often and had to hold on to the wall until he got to the door. Locked. Of course it was.

He looked around the tiny room and his eyes landed on the medical kit. He stumbled over to it, nearly collapsing. He went through it until he found the needles. He stumbled back to the door and leaned over, and stuck the needles in. He played with it for a bit and...click.

He managed a very weak smile of triumph. He dropped the needles and opened the door. He stepped out, and shut it behind him, and locked it, just to be safe. He held on to the railing as he went slowly down the stairs.

In the living room, he saw a bunch of clothes thrown around. They were Takuro's and- honestly they were better than nothing. He grabbed the nearest shirt- a black one smelling heavily of alcohol, and slipped it on. He stumbled to the front door and opened it, tears springing to his eyes. He was really escaping.

He couldn't stand there and celebrate. He had to hurry. Before Takuro came back.

Kokichi let go of the threshold and stepped out, shutting the door behind him. He stumbled, his legs shaking. He shivered. May have been...spring? Summer? He wasn't sure- but it was still cold at night. All he had on were his boxers and Takuro's shirt. No socks, no shoes, no pants. He had to look a complete mess.

He got to the forest and, instead of following the long path, he hid in the trees and walked beside it.

Good thing he did.

He'd been walking- well, stumbling, for probably fifteen minutes before he heard Takuro's car. He let himself drop behind a bunch of bushes, letting the dark forest conceal him. Takuro didn't even notice him. He kept driving.

When he passed by, Kokichi got back up, albeit slowly, and continued on his way. If Takuro was following the same schedule as he did at the other house, then he had a couple hours before he was noticed to be missing.

He kept going until there was no more forest. Just a long path of nothing.

Kokichi heaved a sigh, and grimaced in pain, and continued on his way.

He had to have been walking for at least an hour before he heard a car. He froze in terror, turning around, expecting to see Takuro driving towards him. But to his relief and even joy, it wasn't Takuro. It was a young couple driving in the direction of his town! He got out of the way and raised his arms. "Help!" he called out, his voice raspy.

To his utter disbelief, they glanced at him, but kept driving.

Kokichi stared, his jaw slightly agape.

His shoulders sagged, and he kept going.

Another hour and a half passed, and the sun was rising. Takuro would have to notice he was gone any moment, and it still felt like he was so far from society. What if he didn't make it? He was so tired...he was in pain. He wanted nothing more than to just collapse. But if he did, Takuro would find him for sure. So, he forced himself to keep going.

Eventually, he spotted some buildings.

Kokichi could have cried.

He may have cried a little.

He'd made it. He was in town. Sure, it was still very far from where he lived, but he was in town, and there were people! He let out a sob of relief as he hobbled through his hometown. After ten minutes of limping and stumbling, a car, which was driving by, suddenly stopped. A well dressed man came out, looking really concerned.

"Young man? Are you okay?" he rushed over to him. Kokichi flinched back and fell directly on to his ass from the force. The man stopped, biting his lip. "Hey, look, I'm on my way to work right now, and I pass by the hospital to get there. I can give you a ride."

The hospital...

Safety.

Kokichi nodded desperately. The man hesitated and offered a hand, which Kokichi accepted. He shouldn't trust strangers, but frankly, anyone was better than Takuro. He was helped in to the passenger seat of the car, and the man hurried to the driver's seat and began driving quickly.

Sure enough, a familiar hospital was soon in view. The man stopped the car by the entrance. "Do you need any help getting in?" he asked. Kokichi shook his head and fumbled to open the car door.

"Thank you," he whispered tearfully. The man offered a smile.

"Good luck."

Once Kokichi was out of the car, the man drove away. Kokichi stumbled inside the hospital, and to the front desk. The receptionist got one look at him before she jumped to her feet, calling for a doctor immediately. A few nurses came out, and Kokichi recognized one of them.

"Mi...kan..." he gave a wary smile. Mikan glanced at him and dropped her clipboard, her eyes widening.

"K-K-K-Kokichi?" she stammered, taking a step forward. Kokichi took one step closer, and suddenly, he collapsed. Mikan shrieked and ran over to him, and he was promptly taken in to a room, where his shirt was removed and he was fiddled with.

"Mikan..." Kokichi struggled to speak, "let me...call..."

Mikan, thankfully, understood where he was going. "Let us fix you up first, and I'll let you use my phone to call Kaito," her voice, while still a little shaky, was surprisingly firm. Kokichi gave a nod, and shut his eyes.

He wasn't sure how long he was unconscious for, but it couldn't be very long. The light outside the window suggested it was still early morning. Kokichi turned his head, and glanced at himself. He was wearing hospital clothes, his hand which had rope burns was bandaged. His torso, his thighs, his head, were bandaged. The more minor cuts on his face and arms had little patches on them. He could feel a cast on his leg, and on his ankle.

This was real. He was really safe. He noticed also that his left arm was connected to an IV. Made sense, given how much blood he's lost getting all those stab and cut wounds. He then noticed a note on the nightstand by his hospital bed.

_Press the call nurses button when you're ready to call Kaito!_

_\- Mikan_

Kokichi glanced at the red button on the wall by his bed. He hesitated. He had no idea what today's date was. He had no idea how long he's been missing for. But he...couldn't fully remember what his boyfriend sounded like. He was nervous. But he desperately wanted to see him. He reached over and pushed the button. Minutes later, Mikan came hurrying in, her cell phone in hand. She went to her contacts and pressed call for him, and held it to Kokichi's face for him, since he couldn't do it himself.

 _"Hello? Mikan? What's up?"_ A familiar sleepy, scratchy voice was heard on the other line. Tears sprung to Kokichi's eyes. His lips trembled. He rose his bandaged hand to his lips to stifle a sob. He faintly heard Kaito call for Mikan, his voice, while still tired, held concern in it.

"Kaito..." Kokichi said softly.

It went dead silent over the phone for a solid two seconds before he heard the other line make a noise. It sounded like Kaito had dropped his phone. A moment later, he heard shuffling, the sound of Kaito picking the phone back up.

_"Kichi..?"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did anyone see my little escape reference I made? Literal kudos to you if you got the reference! :D I'll give you a hint; It's from a horror movie.  
> Also people suck huh I actually had the idea of someone ignoring Kokichi ever since Whispers in the Dark and I'm so happy I finally wrote it :)


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi is not okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No one got the reference that's so sad.  
> The reference was from Gerald's Game. The Netflix Stephen King movie!  
> Ah, of course that was WAY more bloody, and Kokichi only suffered severe rope burn!  
> But it was still based on the escape scene!

Shuichi laid in bed silently, his blanket thrown over his head. His phone was on standby, not even charging, on the nightstand by his side of the bed. He curled up, hugging his knees to his chest. His eyes were burning, drooping tiredly, but he couldn't fall asleep. Well, not exactly _couldn't_ \- but he _wouldn't_. He knew if he did, he would see Kokichi's scared and betrayed face in his mind. He already _has_ seen Kokichi's terrified expression in his nightmares for the past several nights. He refused to sleep.

It was all his fault.

If only he was more careful, then maybe Takuro wouldn't have noticed and fled with Kokichi. Of course, Shuichi didn't blame his Uncle Jiro. Not at all. He was a professional. So it had to have been Shuichi's fault. There was no other explanation.

Shuichi heaved a soft sigh, tears springing to his eyes. He let Kokichi down. He was still in the clutches of that god awful, vengeful man. It was all his fault. His fault, his fault, his fault, his fault...

Knowing he was home alone, Shuichi didn't bother to suppress the wail of agony that built up his throat. He hugged his pillow close to his chest, tears falling from his eyes. "I'm sorry," his voice cracked, "I'm so sorry, Kokichi. I made everything worse. I probably sealed your fate. You're probably going to die because of me," he let out a sob, memories of the short troublemaker running through his mind.

_. . ._

_"Maybe it's time to stop," Rantaro suggested, moving to pick the bottle up._

_"Nooo, I feel fine!" Kokichi slurred, pressing his lips together before a giggle slid past his lips._

_"Hey, uh, maybe you should go find your friends?" Shuichi said quietly. Kokichi's face lit up. "Heyyy great idea, Shumai!" he cheered._

_-_

_Kokichi was laying tucked in bed, his arms out, his lesser damaged arm had several bandaid patches on his arm, covering up any cuts or scratches, and an IV connected to that arm. The other was bandaged completely, as were his knuckles. His neck and head were also bandaged, the oxygen mask on his face seemed so big compared to the rest of him._

_He looked small. Vulnerable._

_Miu let out a strangled sob. Angie moved to give her a hug. Himiko and Kiibo clung to eachother, both faces mirrored disbelief and fear._

_Kaede inhaled sharply and gripped Tenko's hand, and Shuichi lowered his head. Rantaro rubbed his back, his face somber._

_-_

_Everyone paused and turned. Mikan stood at the door, looking absolutely frazzled, "p-please, not in the hospital! You can hurt him!" she said shakily._

_"Sorry Miss Mikan," Kokichi put the pillow down and batted his eyelashes, "I'll be a good boy."_

_-_

_Kokichi grit his teeth. "It's my decision. I'm going to visit him. I have to."_

_"Why?" Shuichi looked appalled, "he's in jail. You don't have to worry about him. There's no way he's getting out. Not with the amount of evidence and witnesses against him. You're safe from him. You're free."_

_"That's the thing," Kokichi said, irritation seeping through him, "I don't feel free from him. I want my own closure. I was away from my father for four years now, and yet, I was still chained down to him. I became free from him after he died. I want that same feeling with Haruto."_

_-_

_"You're late. Did something happen?" Shuichi looked concerned._

_"Hell yeah something happened, it's called CupcakKe," Miu snickered. Rantaro smiled in obvious exasperation while Shuichi mouthed 'cupcake?' to himself. Kokichi skipped over and slung an arm around the taller male. "Shumai, my beloved, CupcakKe is a singer. I'll have to get you to listen to her music."_

_"Okay? Thanks, I guess?" Shuichi smiled awkwardly._

_-_

_"Hey, Shumai!" Kokichi chirped, "yep! I'm gonna make Kaito take me to a really fancy restaurant, where we're gonna have hot steamy sex underneath the table, where no one can see us because of the long tablecloth!"_

_Shuichi, who was walking towards Kokichi, slowed down considerably. "Oh..." he said, both looking and sounding awkward, "I...I see?" he blinked, obviously confused. Kokichi let out a mischievous laugh._

_"But that was a lie."_

_"Ah." Shuichi rubbed the back of his head._

_Kokichi tilted his head to the side. "So? What about you? Why're you here?"_

_Shuichi flushed. "I was just gonna bring Kaito to a cafe to study with him."_

_"You mean like...a study date?" Kokichi feigned a gasp, "you're trying to steal my beloved Kaito away from me, aren't you?" he demanded, crocodile tears springing to his violet eyes. Shuichi waved his hands frantically, a panicked expression on his face._

_"No! No! You got it all wrong!"_

_-_

_Kokichi put a hand to his chest in mock offense. "Wow. Everyone's going out with my boyfriend except me. What a cruel, cruel world this is." He shook his head with a pout. Shuichi played with his bangs, as if they'd hide his face._

_"W-well, what about you, Kokichi?" he questioned._

_"I already told you! We're going out to dinner to have sex under the table!"_

_"You also said that was a lie."_

_"Oops, you got me."_

_Shuichi sighed._

_-_

_"Did I?" Kokichi smiled slyly, "or was I talking about something else?"_

_Shuichi sighed. "Don't have sex under the table, Kokichi."_

_"What? But I'm gay, I have to suggest weird places to have sex!"_

_. . ._

"You always...loved messing with us...with me," Shuichi whispered, his grip on his pillow tightening. "You didn't deserve this. Any of this." He let a sob slip by his lips, which had begun to quiver as he cried.

If only he was a better detective. If he was useful, like his uncle, then this wouldn't have happened. Shuichi knows, logically, it wasn't exactly his fault. But the fact that Takuro caught on to the fact they were going to track him down the first time Shuichi was working with his uncle, his emotional side kept poking and prodding him, saying it was all his fault. He caused this. He messed up somehow. He did this. If he wasn't a useless piece of shit, then Kokichi would be safe.

Shuichi knew he should get up.

But he didn't want to.

His uncle promised to contact him if he had any more leads. So far, there was nothing. He'd been in bed for four days now, not getting up once. He's sat up a couple times because Rantaro forced him to drink water, but that was the extent of his moving. He knew Rantaro was extremely worried. He's tried talking to Shuichi about it several times, but Shuichi would only make some sort of noncommittal noise in response. Frankly, Shuichi was just waiting for Rantaro to give up on him.

But Rantaro didn't. And Shuichi wasn't sure if he was happy, or more distressed about that.

Happy, because he genuinely loved Rantaro, his warmth, his kind smiles, and the fact he was always so encouraging. But he was also distressed because...well, he was himself. He didn't deserve someone like Rantaro. Someone like him, who put his friend in more danger because he was a failure of a detective in training, didn't deserve to be happy with someone like Rantaro, who was a literal angel.

And yet...Shuichi can't bring himself to even attempt to push Rantaro away. He wanted to let him in. He wanted Rantaro to wrap his arms around him and gently reassure him that he wasn't a failure of a detective- no, he wasn't a failure of a human being.

"Rantaro..." Shuichi whimpered, "please come home, I need you..."

Of course, saying that won't make the green haired male come home. Glancing at the digital clock on the nightstand, Shuichi knew Rantaro wouldn't be home for at least another three hours. Maybe four, if he went to check in on his sisters at the mansion.

Shuichi let his still burning eyes shut. Just for a moment, he promised himself.

But that moment turned to two, and then five, ten, fifteen, twenty, forty, an hour...

He was asleep.

. . .

_Shuichi was standing at a graveyard. He looked around, his chest tight. Why was he here? What was going on? He then noticed a memorial service across the cemetery. His detective's intuition told him to go investigate. So, he did. He got closer, and froze. All of his friends were dressed in black and crying, holding eachother. Who..? He stepped over and gasped. They were surrounding Kokichi Ouma's grave._

_"Kokichi!" Shuichi cried out._

_His voice was quiet, nearly inaudible, and yet, it caused everyone to stop and look at him._

_"Why are you here, Shuichi?" Kaito asked, his voice shaking in anger, "you don't have the right to be here."_

_"I- I- what?" He stepped back, fear flashing in his silver eyes._

_"You killed Kokichi, you fucking murdered him!" Miu screamed. Angie didn't even hold her back, she just glared at Shuichi with disgust in her ocean blue eyes. He turned to look at Himiko and Kiibo. Himiko glared angrily at him, looking like she wanted to strangle him. Kiibo turned away, his expression betrayed and angered._

_"No, that's wrong!" Shuichi insisted, "I didn't kill him! I wanted to find him!"_

_"You killed him! You weren't good enough!" Tenko shouted._

_Shuichi took a step back. "No, I just..." he gasped._

_"Shuichi, just accept the fact that you're the most useless detective this world has ever seen," Maki said coolly._

_He gripped his hair, shaking. "Maki, please, I didn't want this to happen! I was trying to protect him!" he pleaded and looked around at the unforgiving faces of his friends. He caught sight of Kaede, his first true friend, staring downwards, her blonde bangs shadowing her eyes. He stepped towards her. "K-Kaede..?"_

_"You disgust me, Shuichi."_

_He flinched back and bumped into someone. He whirled around. Rantaro stood, his green eyes emotionless, his face a variety of negative emotions. "I can't date a failure like you."_

_"No! No! No, no, no, Rantaro! No, please! I- I'm sorry! I love you!"_

_Rantaro laughed. "Really? You? That's fucking disgusting. You failed him. You failed us. You failed everyone."_

_Lightning flashed, and Shuichi covered his face with a cry. He looked back up as it began to rain. His friends were gone, each replaced with a gravestone with their names on it. Whispers of unknown voices began chanting, "your fault, your fault, your fault."_

_"No!" Shuichi screamed out._

_"Shuichi."_

_Shuichi turned and saw Kokichi, or rather, his ghost. He stood in front of his grave, his body, his face, completely mangled, broken, bloody. Tears fell down Shuichi's face and he stepped forward, reaching his hand towards the bright blue ghostly light. "Koki-"_

_"I hate you." Kokichi drew his hand back and thrust it into Shuichi's chest._

_. . ._

"No! No!" Shuichi thrashed around in bed, screaming, crying. A hand was shaking his arm desperately, a familiar deep voice calling out to him. Shuichi's eyes snapped open and he cried out, jolting upright. Hands gripped his shoulders.

"Shuichi! Calm down! Please! Come on, breathe with me."

Shuichi took a shaky breath, tears spilling down his face as he breathed with the other person in the room. It took several minutes, but eventually, Shuichi calmed down and noticed Rantaro, still in his work clothes, looking terrified.

"Ran...taro?"

"Thank god," Rantaro breathed a shaky sigh of relief, "I've been trying to snap you out of it for awhile."

"Snap me...out?" Shuichi echoed.

Rantaro nodded. "You fell asleep. I was about to get my shower and you started muttering 'I'm sorry' over and over again. Your eyes were wide open. You were in this...really weird trance. I called out to you, but you started screaming. It took me seven minutes to bring you back to reality." Shuichi suddenly felt guilty at the look of pure terror on his boyfriend's face. He hugged him.

"I'm sorry...I had a nightmare."

Rantaro hugged him close. "It's fine. You're okay. We're okay." He seemed to be trying to tell himself that more than anything.

"What time is it..?" Shuichi asked.

"It's only eight."

"In the morning?" he glanced out the window.

"Yeah," Rantaro sounded guilty, "I ended up needing to stay the night at the mansion. I tried calling you but I guess you were asleep."

"Oh..."

The two laid there in silence, neither speaking, only listening to the other breathe. As the morning went on, Shuichi's phone rang. He didn't answer it, but Rantaro glanced at the caller ID. "It's Kaito."

"Hand it to me? P-please?"

Rantaro did so.

Shuichi swiped the answer button on his phone, holding it to his ear. "Hello?"

_"Shuichi! Kokichi's back!"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was it fair to leave off on a cliffhanger only to change the subject? No, but that's just my writing style huh.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaito is really happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *anime girl poses* I'm back on my bullshit

Kaito was asleep when his phone rang. He had, ever since finding out about Miu's self destructive habits, vowed to always answer his phone. So, he rolled over, grabbing his phone off his nightstand. He saw Mikan's name flashing and yawned, sighing in confusion. Mikan never called him, he wondered what was up. He swiped to answer and held his phone to his ear. "Hello? Mikan? What's up?" he asked groggily. There was silence on the other line, before there was a tiny gasp that sounded like a sob. Kaito sat up, a litle more awake. "Mikan? Hey, you okay? Come on, talk to me."

_"Kaito..."_

That...was not Mikan's voice. That wasn't Mikan's voice. Holy shit that was fucking Kokichi's voice. The phone slid from his fingers and it clattered to the floor. Kaito stared at it for a moment, his eyes huge. He snapped out of his little stupor after a moment, quickly leaning down and grabbing it, fumbling to put it back to his ear. Please don't let this be a dream, he internally prayed. He shakily held the phone to his ear again. "Kichi..?" he asked.

Another noise sounding like a sob. _"Kaito. I'm here."_

"Holy shit," Kaito got out of bed, tears springing to his eyes. He laughed as a few fell down his face. "Kichi, holy shit. You're- you're alive. You're okay. You're...at the hospital, right? B-because you're using Mikan's phone?"

 _"O-obviously...Kaito's still so dumb..."_ Kokichi said weakly, laughing a little. He was trying to sound brave.

"You little gremlin shit," Kaito whispered, wiping his tears. "I'm gonna go ahead and head up. I- I need to tell Shuichi. And I'll have him call everyone else. I'll be there soon."

 _"Okay,"_ Kokichi said softly, _"see you soon, Kaito."_

Kaito didn't wanna hang up, but he had to. Once he hung up, he let out a loud whoop of cheer, jumping up and down a couple times. He got dressed, grabbing his car keys and rushing outside, getting in his old truck. He moved to Shuichi's contact name, and pressed call. He waited, excitement and joy filling his entire body. After a moment, Shuichi answered the phone. _"Hello?"_

"Shuichi! Kokichi's back!" Kaito shouted, unable to contain his excitement.

 _"Wh-what?"_ Shuichi sounded stunned.

"Kichi is back, he's at the hospital, he just called me from Mikan's phone. Will you and Rantaro call everyone else and tell them? I'm about to drive and go see Kichi myself," Kaito said quickly. He wanted to hurry. To see his boyfriend. His Kokichi. He didn't want to call everyone himself. He needed to see Kokichi.

 _"O-oh! Y-yeah! Yeah, we'll do that!"_ Poor Shuichi sounded like he was trying to wrap his head around everything. But Kaito believed in him. He grinned widely, almost flashing a thumbs up before remembering they were on the phone.

"That's my sidekick! I'll see you at the hospital!"

 _"Yeah,"_ Shuichi sounded flustered, _"see you soon."_

"Bye!" Kaito hung up quickly, tossing his phone aside on the passenger seat and started his truck. It roared to life, and he began driving to the hospital. He drove slightly faster than the speed limit, sitting impatiently at red lights, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel.

"Come on, come on," he groaned.

Green light.

Kaito began driving again.

He made it to the hospital within eight minutes, parking, albeit crookedly, in a parking spot. He got out after turning his car off, gathering all his stuff and rushing inside. He stopped at the reception desk, bouncing up and down. The tired receptionist gave him a dirty look but questioned him anyway.

"I'm here for Kokichi Ouma."

"Relationship?"

Ah, right. After the incident nearly two years ago, the hospital instilled a new rule that you had to show ID to prove who you were, that way not just anyone could visit. Kaito tried to hold back his impatience. "I'm his boyfriend. We live together. Kaito Momota," he got his wallet out, showing his ID. "Uhh...oh, here's a picture of me and Kichi together," he got the picture out. The one with them half hugging.

The nurse sighed. "Okay. He's in the intensive care unit, so please keep it down. Let me check his room number..." she typed away at her computer for a moment before nodding. "Okay. He's in room fourteen."

"Thank you!" Kaito shoved the picture and ID back in his wallet, speed walking to the hallway. The door opened just as he arrived, a doctor coming out for some other waiting people. They let him by.

His eyes scanned the room numbers until he found number fourteen. He sped up and stopped in front of the door. _Don't cry_ , he told himself, _whatever you do, don't cry._ He took a deep breath, gripping the door handle, and slid the door open.

Kokichi was half laying down and half sitting up, propped up by pillows. His hospital gown was partially undone, so Kaito could see the bandages wrapped around his torso. His head also had a bandage wrapped around it. Kokichi was staring out the window, so Kaito couldn't see his face, but he noted his right hand completely bandaged, small patches on his wrist. On his other hand, his sleeve was pushed up, an IV stuck in his arm. He had a blanket over his lower half, but he could still make out the casts on both of his legs. Well, on one of his legs and one specifically around his ankle.

"Kichi..." Kaito breathed.

Kokichi turned to face him. His face was all kinds of black and blue. His lip was torn, he had a black eye that was...really worryingly large. It covered his entire eye, covered part of his temple, and most of his cheek down to his jaw. On the other side of his face, there was a patch, so he probably had a minor cut there. On the same side where the patch was, his chin had a smaller bruise on it.

Kokichi smiled. "Kaito."

Kaito rushed forward, enveloping the boy in a very gentle hug. He wasn't sure what the extent of his injuries were, so he didn't want to bear hug his boyfriend. Not yet, anyway. Kokichi hugged back, letting out a sob. "Kaito. You're here."

"That's my line you little gremlin," Kaito couldn't help it. Tears were falling down his face at rapid speed. "It's already June seventh. Two more days and you'll have been missing for an entire month."

"Oh...so then...I escaped...last night...or would that be early this morning?" Kokichi mumbled. Kaito wanted to tighten his grip on him, but he didn't, in fear of harming Kokichi further.

"Kokichi, you have no idea how...happy I am," Kaito choked out tearfully, "it's been so...shitty here, without you. It's like the energy was just zapped out of everyone."

At this, Kokichi turned to face him, looking bewildered. "What? Why?"

"Because we all care about you, duh," Kaito responded, leaning down and hesitating. He pressed a kiss to Kokichi's forehead. Kokichi's brows furrowed, but he didn't say anything regarding Kaito's reply. Instead, he forced a weak smirk.

"That's all I get? After almost a month of being gone?"

"Your lip is torn."

"I don't care. Kiss me."

"Kichi..."

"Kiss me or I'll kiss you."

Kaito sighed, but smiled. He gently pressed his lips to Kokichi's. As he expected, they were rough, and the little area where it was torn felt strange against his lips. He wondered how painful it was to Kokichi. But Kokichi didn't complain. He shut his eyes, relaxing as the two kissed. Kaito pulled away, taking a breath. Kokichi leaned over quickly, re-capturing his lips. This time, his tongue poked at Kaito's lips. Kaito opened his mouth for him, quickly dominating him. It doesn't matter if Kokichi starts the kisses, Kaito was always going to dominate him, and Kokichi knew this.

They pulled away, their lips coated in saliva.

Kokichi's eyes sparkled, smiling. Tears were in his eyes too.

Kaito cupped his cheek. "You're so adorable."

"Shut up," Kokichi shook his head, still smiling.

"My little sparkle."

"Y-you're what?" Kokichi's face turned red.

Kaito grinned. "Your eyes are sparkling. So...you're my little sparkle."

" _You_...are unbelievably stupid," Kokichi hid his face in Kaito's chest.

Kaito laughed, holding him closer. "You're still my cute little sparkle."

"Noooo."

"Light of my life."

"Stoooop."

"My whole world."

"Kaitooooo."

"My true love."

Kokichi whined, clinging tighter to Kaito. Even through his shirt, Kaito could feel how hot Kokichi's face was. He laughed wholeheartedly, moving to bury his face in Kokichi's hair, despite it being greasy. He didn't care. He really didn't. Kokichi was safe, and that's all that mattered to him right now. The two stayed there in silence, before hearing multiple footsteps running down the hall. Kaito pulled away, chuckling. "I'm getting a strange sense of deja vu."

"Fantastic."

The door's slid open quickly.

"Kokichi!" Multiple voices shouted. Kokichi began sweating a little as Miu shoved her way through, running over and hugging him, quickly followed by Angie, Rantaro, Kaede, and Himiko. Shuichi, Maki, Tenko and Kiibo stayed back to wait, though they were looking eager too- even if Tenko kept looking away.

"You stupid shota shit, oh my fucking god, I missed you so much," Miu sobbed.

"I missed you too, pig whore," Kokichi said softly.

Miu laughed through her tears.

"Okay, you're all probably overcrowding him," Maki said in her usual low tone, "he's injured. Be careful." At this, everyone stepped back. Kokichi shared a mutual look with Maki, who did give him a tiny ghost of a smile. "We missed you, Kokichi. Welcome back."

"Good to be back," Kokichi admitted.

"So...um," Kiibo hesitated, "are you okay?"

"Perfectly fine."

"Even now, you're still a fucking liar," Miu mumbled.

Kokichi barely spared her a glance. "And even now, you're still a pig bitch."

"Shut up," there was no bite to Miu's words. Kokichi giggled and leaned back in to his pillows.

"I am fine, though. Mikan gave me painkillers earlier. I'm not feeling a whole lot of pain."

It was silent for a moment, no one wanting to be the one to speak up and ask about his injuries. Thankfully, they didn't have to. Mikan came in, smiling a little when she saw Maki. The two exchanged a brief kiss, and Mikan approached Kokichi. "I need to change your bandages. They're already getting dirty." She didn't stutter once, Kaito was admittedly impressed. Kokichi sighed and sat up again.

Kaito felt his stomach drop as Mikan undid his bandages on his torso. Kokichi was covered in dark bruises and disgustingly terrible looking scars. Some were huge, some were narrow. He didn't dare glance at anyone else, keeping his lilac eyes trained on his slim boyfriend's body. It looked like he'd been stabbed at and cut open. God, what had he gone through in the past month..?

But Kaito wasn't going to ask. He didn't want to bring up painful memories.

If Kokichi wanted to tell him, then he will.

He'll wait as long as he needs to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter chapter but *poses* oh well


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kokichi and Miu have a heart to heart.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me; I'm back in the danganronpa fandom!  
> Me; proceeds to disappear again

When Mikan left after changing Kokichi's bandages, Miu began shifting around, her icy blue eyes showcasing her nerves. She kept glancing over at Kokichi's bandages. She started scratching at her arm. Angie leaned over, gripping her wrist. Her face was sad. "Miu."

"I know."

Angie sighed and let go of her. "I'm sorry for this."

"What-?" Miu felt her heart drop. Angie spoke out loud.

"Miu! You're not thinking about doing drugs again, are you?" Angie smiled, "that's not good for you!" everyone's attention flew to Miu, who stopped her scratching. Kokichi's gaze was blank, his eyebrows crinkled. He was disappointed in her. Miu felt herself being cornered by everyone's eyes. She wasn't sure what to say. Kokichi finally cleared his throat after a moment.

"Hey, can I speak to the pig alone?"

Everyone hesitated, but listened anyway, leaving the room. Angie smiled sadly at Miu, mouthing _good luck_ to her. Miu wasn't sure why Angie would out her like that, but she had a feeling that she knew it was best.

Miu stood there rigidly. Kokichi motioned her to come closer. So, she did, sitting on the chair next to his bed. He reached over and tugged her sleeves down. He grimaced when he saw the burn marks on her. "Miu..."

"I know!" Miu blurted out, "I was stupid, okay? I know! Angie, Kaede, Tenko and Kaito all already got on to me for my fucking self destructive habits! I was the worst person ever in the month you've been gone. I was almost six years clean, but...when you were gone I...I thought that I would never see you again," she started choking on her words, tears filling her eyes and slowly falling down her face. "I was so scared. You...you're the only person who's never abandoned me. You're my longest friend ever. You can keep up with me and go along with what I say and somehow you always know how to make me feel better without even trying. You're a fucking...obnoxious little brother and I adore you. I couldn't handle losing that, and in return, I became a shithole of a person," she was full blown sobbing by the time she finished speaking.

"Miu, will you tell me what happened? What...made you go back specifically to drugs?" Kokichi asked carefully.

The blonde girl took a shuddering breath. "After you were taken, I blamed myself for not taking you home that day. So I started smoking to calm my nerves. But after a week or two, it just wasn't enough. I needed more. So I started smoking weed too...I lived off of the high I got."

. . .

_Kaito pushed the door open, and instantly he started gagging. He shut the door and whirled around, horrified. Her living room smelled like weed, and it was a mess. There were several ash trays around, more than a few of them were overloaded with cigarettes and..._

_"Miu, holy shit, are you fucking smoking weed?"_

_Maybe if it was just cigarettes, he'd understand, but, weed as well? Wasn't she clean?_

_"The fuck's it to you?" Miu spat, swaying on her feet. Her blonde hair was so greasy it was matted to her scalp, her normally perfect posture was slouched, her pink nightie was crinkled and stained. She had bags under her eyes. She lit another, and inhaled, closing her eyes. Kaito rushed forward, snatching the lighter away from her._

_"What the hell are you doing? Do you really think Kokichi would want this?" He shouted._

_Miu's face twisted into anger. "Don't fucking talk about him, you motherfucking shitty ass fuckface!" she coughed, waving her little paper pipe around, smoke following it around, "fuckin' bitchass hypocritical shithole, get the fuck out of my fucking apartment."_

_"Miu, you need help," Kaito said firmly, yanking the paper pipe away and putting it out, tossing it in one of the ash trays. She huffed, looking pissed off._

_"Fine, I'll stop doing weed. Give me my fucking lighter back."_

_Kaito's brows shot up in disbelief. "I'm not enabling you to fucking smoke a cigarette either."_

_"I said give me my fucking lighter back!" she shot forward to grab it. Kaito held it just out of reach, thankful that she was barefoot instead of wearing her monstrous heels._

. . .

"I was a bitch to Kaito. I remember it. He was telling me that this isn't what you would want, and I just got angrier and angrier because I knew he was right. I did. But I was thinking, you're gone, so who cares?" Miu explained shakily. "I just wanted to smoke, get high and punish myself for letting you get kidnapped and," she waved a hand to his body, "tortured."

"Kaito's strong. He can handle being talked down to. He knew you were hurting, and that's why he helped you," Kokichi said quietly.

"I know but..."

"What else happened? You mentioned Angie, Kaede and Tenko..."

Miu took a breath. "I did hold back from the weed after that. I smoked occasionally, but instead of weed, I started drinking more. And sometimes, I'd go to a bar, use my looks for free drinks in exchange for sex."

Kokichi nodded. Vent sex. He'd done that with Kaito when they were friends with benefits.

"And...I knew it was wrong, because I'm still dating Angie, but I just didn't care. Until one of my one night stands actually talked back to me," Miu sighed shakily.

. . .

_"Are we...you know?" he asked. When Miu raised her eyebrows, he tried to elaborate. "Are we dating now?"_

_She barked out a sharp laugh. "Us? Dating? No way, asshole. You are so out of my league. I came here for a one night stand and that's it. I have to get back to my girlfriend anyway," she took a swig of her cigarette and got up, the cigarette resting between two fingers as she walked to the window, ignoring the fact she knew he was staring at her ass. There was a pause._

_"You cheated on your girlfriend?"_

_"So the fuck what if I did?"_

_"That's-" the guy got up, slamming his cigarette on the nightstand and putting it out. "I never would have slept with you if I knew you were a fucking slut!" he snapped. Miu whirled around, her icy blue eyes blaring in fury._

_"You don't fucking know me! You don't know what the fuck I'm going through! You don't have the goddamn right to judge me!" she screamed._

_The guy clenched his fists. "Maybe I fucking don't, but I don't want to sleep with someone who already has a partner. If you had left it at we had a one night stand, I would have accepted that. But you-" he shook his head, "you're awful. I feel sorry for your girlfriend. She deserves better than you."_

. . .

"I was so mad because I knew he was right," tears started falling down Miu's face. I needed more, so I tricked a guy into getting me some more drinks before leaving. I had to call Kaede to pick me up because I was shitfaced. I had no idea where I was. I was walking there, but then had some random dude drop me off there instead. I knew I'd get drunk so I didn't want to drive there. Guy wanted money, so instead I sucked him off and let him play with me a little."

Kokichi nodded for her to continue.

"I got Kaede and Tenko to pick me up. They did, and I threw up all over Kaede."

In a normal circumstance, Kokichi would have laughed. But this time, there was nothing funny about what had happened. Not when the reason why Miu got drunk was because she assumed he was gone forever.

"And then...they called Angie and...god, I made her drop the whole Atua thing and I saw her for who she really is."

. . .

_"Forget whatever the fuck Atua says! Get angry! Be hurt! You're allowed to have feelings!" Miu screamed._

_Angie's lower lip started to tremble. "My mom and dad said feelings got in the way of what Atua wants. I can't just disobey-"_

_"You can! You're a fucking human being! Tell me what you really think, what you really want! Forget about Atua and be yourself!"_

_The tears in Angie's eyes began to spill down her tanned cheeks. "I want...to stay with you. I want to be with you, Miu! I feel horrible knowing you cheated on me! I feel like I'm never good enough! That my- my stupid religion will never make anything better! But that's all I know! I only know about Atua, and his will! Is- is it wrong for me to want to not forgive you for hurting me?! Yet...I do, I do forgive you, Miu...because I do understand you're hurting too. I don't want you to leave me. I don't want to break up with you. I love you, Miu!"_

_"You stupid...stupid, idiot," Miu whispered brokenly, lowering her head so her forehead rested on Angie's. Angie clung to her and let out a sob._

_"It hurts," Angie whispered, "I can't stand...not being able to do anything to help anyone when all I know is Atua. Everyone hates it when I talk about him. But that's the only way I know how to help. I'm so useless."_

_"No, Angie," Miu said shakily, "it's not your fault. And no matter what stupid shit I've done, I'll always love you."_

_"Don't leave me," Angie whimpered, "please, please, please don't leave me..."_

. . .

"Angie was scared. She was crying. She thought she wasn't good enough and that she's useless, because her fucking parents taught her to ignore her feelings and focus on Atua, her social skills suffered for it. It's their fault she feels like she can't do anything, that she can focus on Atua...and yet, I encouraged it. I cheated on her with multiple people. Guys, girls, anyone who wanted it. I made her feel worse about herself. I'm the fucking worst girlfriend in existence, huh?"

"No, you're not," Kokichi disagreed, "you were trying to cope. You knew it was bad, but you worked to better yourself, right?"

Miu nodded tearfully. "I did. I did everything I could to stop. When I felt any urges, I drove to Angie's place. Sometimes Maki's or Kaede's, I even once drove to Rantaro and Shuichi's. I tried to avoid being alone for too long. I didn't want to hurt Angie again."

"See?" Kokichi said softly, "you were trying to better yourself while still coping with the fact I was gone. You've been suffering. If you didn't really care about Angie, you wouldn't have broken down in front of her. You wouldn't have tried to better yourself and your coping mechanisms."

"Kokichi..."

"Everyone messes up sometimes. A lot of people get into really bad habits that lead to addiction. But backing down is the best thing to do."

"It hurts," Miu whispered, "it's so hard. I feel like I can't breathe without a cigarette now."

"I know."

"I've cut back smoking to three times a week. But...am I really strong enough...to become clean a second time?" she asked shakily.

Kokichi nodded. "You are." He reached over to her, pulling her in for a hug. She wrapped her arms around him tenderly, careful not to squeeze him. She buried her face in his shoulder. She laughed, though there wasn't any mirth in her laughter.

"What kinda world is this? You're in the hospital but you're helping me."

"A world where pigs need comfort too."

She laughed again, though there was a tone of real humor in it. She was feeling better. Kokichi got serious again, rubbing her back. "Hey, Miu? Do you think since...I'm back, you'll be able to hold yourself back a bit more?"

"...Maybe."

"What if you had someone to be angry at?"

"I'm angry at Takuro."

"Oh, you knew..?"

"Shuichi's uncle figured it out and he told us."

"Ah. Well, that's not what I mean...you see, when I escaped, there was a long way back to town, and someone drove right past me, even though they saw me."

Miu pulled away, her eyes widening. "What?!" she looked furious. She no longer looked like the defeated woman who was too scared to go more than a week without cigarettes. She looked...much more normal.

Kokichi smiled and innocently told her the license plate number. Miu whipped her phone out, typing it in. She ended up having to pay to see the phone number of the owners of the car, but she didn't care. She held the phone to her ear. Kokichi watched her as she paced.

She stopped. "Are you the owners of the dark blue honda civic?" It was quiet for a moment, and her eyes widened in anger.

Kokichi smiled and plugged his ears.

"You motherfuckers! You have no fucking human decency, do you?! Your fucking black ass hearts are colder than your goddamn deserted heads! Motherfucking bitchass whores, you deserve to sit on a goddamn wooden chair on fire and get fucking burnt alive! You deserve to be fucking deep fried inside of a fucking volcano, you miserable excuses of lowlife human scum! Honestly! Stop having your goddamn farm animals fuck your baby bitch ass holes and start acting like a real fucking human being! You're fucking pathetic! I hope you lose your fucking jobs and starve to death, you fucking whore ass cunts!" Miu screamed, "go fucking die already! The world doesn't need cow shit for brains breathing in it's fucking oxygen, and you don't need to be poisoning the fucking world with your useless ass carbon dioxide!" and with that, she hung up.

Kokichi let go of his ears. "You feel better?"

"I heard them crying, so yes."

Kokichi just laughed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Miu is so fun to write. Anyway, a quick PSA thing!  
> Normally, I'd wait till I have a few more kudos, but uhh. Tomorrow, the wifi is being cut! We're moving states on Thursday. I don't know when EXACTLY we'll get wifi back, but my personal guess would be it'd be by Saturday or Sunday, because we're moving with my step grandpa and step uncle, and they demand their wifi. But, just in case, I decided to bust out some oneshots in the Honeyworks fandom (Please...please look into it? LipxLip specifically, Aiyuu is basically Oumota but better, I beg you all to get into LipxLip, it's just. songs. No anime. Nothing. That's where I've been vibin! Aiyuu is also my #1 Favorite Comfort Ship. It knocked Oumota down to 2nd place. May I start the recommendation off with the song "Yume Fanfare"? It's a song abt Gay Pride :D)  
> and I updated my yttd fic as well  
> and I'm updating this  
> all before the wifi gets cut so yall can have your juice.  
> I can still reply to comments using my phone's data! So I won't be off the face of the earth! I just won't be able to update!  
> :) so...yeah.  
> GET INTO LIPXLIP SO YALL CAN INVADE THE DEAD FANDOM


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kokichi's actually not okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *eye emoji*

_"You have some serious guts to talk back to me, despite the position you're in. I can see why Haruto was so invested in you. I am going to enjoy breaking you," he chuckled, sending chills up Kokichi's spine._

_"What are you going to do?" Kokichi asked warily._

_Takuro stood back upright, throwing his head back and laughing. "Aww, have you accepted your fate that you're going to die here?"_

_Kokichi went rigid. "Die? Here?"_

_"Yes. You are never going to see the sun again. Never going to see your little friends again. Never going to see your boyfriend again. You're never going to remember what a peaceful, happy life is. Your fate, Kokichi Ouma," Takuro moved to stroke his cheek, "is to lay here and die a slow, torturous death."_

_Takuro approached Kokichi, holding a scalpel and a lighter, a wicked smile crossing his face. "Now, shall we begin?" he asked. Kokichi rapidly shook his head, his heart beginning to thump like crazy. Takuro leaned over, flicking the lighter on and holding the scalpel over the flame. He waited. As the scalpel heated up, Kokichi felt his breathing begin to quicken, his anxiety rising._

_"No..." he gasped, "please, please don't do this!" he begged._

_"You're a little too late to be asking that. Why would I stop? I already have you bound up here. If I let you go, you'll just squeal like the little bitch you are to the police," Takuro sneered._

_Kokichi shook his head rapidly. "No! Please! I- I promise I won't tell! I swear! Just, please!"_

_"You're lying."_

_"I'm not!"_

_"I can't stand liars, you know?" Takuro smirked and pulled the scalpel away from the lighter, and promptly stabbed it into Kokichi's side. Feeling a mixture of the heat and the stab wound, Kokichi let out a loud cry, struggling not to scream. Takuro's smirk widened. "See? It's not so bad." He started moving the knife around, twisting it in place. Kokichi couldn't stop the scream that escaped his lips after that._

_Takuro laughed. It was a cold, sinister laugh. He pulled the scalpel out. Blood trickled from his wound. Takuro held the lighter to the stab wound to seal it. Kokichi's eyes widened and he screamed even louder than before. It hurt. It hurt so much. He felt tears pricking his eyes. Takuro pulled it away when he was satisfied. "Alright. Now that we know the scalpel works fine, let's test your pain tolerance."_

_. . ._

Kokichi's eyes shot open, cold sweat dripping down his forehead. He could faintly hear the sound of screaming, before he realized the sound was coming from him. The heart monitor connected to him was beeping rapidly, and suddenly, multiple people were in the room, all nurses, struggling to calm him down. A soft and cold hand gripped his unbandaged wrist, probably in an attempt to calm him down. But Kokichi smacked at the person with his bandaged hand, shouting.

"No! Let me go! I'm not your fucking prisoner!"

"K-K-Kokichi! P-please, y-y-you need to c-calm down!" Mikan's voice reached him. He stared at her, wide eyed. His heart was still beating rapidly, and he felt like he could pass out at any moment. 

"Here, Ouma," a different nurses handed him some water and pills, "it'll help you calm down."

Kokichi glanced at Mikan, who nodded in encouragement.

What if the pills were to hurt him? Kill him? Or worse? Yet...he did need to calm down. He eyed them distrustfully. "What are they, exactly?" he asked. The nurse shifted, a frown on her lips.

"They are sedatives."

Kokichi hesitated.

"P-please, j-just take them Kokichi," Mikan said shakily, "I-I don't want to a-administer you a sh-shot..."

Kokichi relented. It took a little bit of time, but he was soon falling unconscious.

At first, he was in pitch darkness, and then, he was seeing the same basement.

. . .

_Walking over, Takuro smirked when he noticed his face. "Oh, don't worry. They're small centipedes. So, they aren't venomous. I do have to keep you alive for awhile, you know." He held the cage over Kokichi. Kokichi went nuts._

_"No! Wait! Please! Please don't do this! Please, please, please, I swear I'll do anything you want! You can torture me all you want! You can- you can- you can burn me, o-or stab me! Anything! Just please don't do this!" Kokichi begged, his breathing beginning to quicken._

_Takuro laughed. "Interesting. I guess bugs truly are your phobia, if you prefer getting physically tortured. Well, I don't want you to die from fear, so I'll only keep them on for a bit." He opened the little cage, and promptly dumped them on Kokichi's small body._

_Kokichi's screams of pain yesterday, with the burn, with being cut open, with being stabbed? All of those screams felt like nothing compared to the ear splitting scream of pure terror that came from his mouth as the two centipedes crawled on him. One of them went down his leg, while the other hung around his torso. Kokichi let out a loud, gut wrenching sob._

_He jolted when he felt a tiny bite on his leg. He screamed. Takuro sighed and moved to pick the centipedes up. "This isn't as fun as I imagined. How disappointing." He tossed the centipedes in the cage. "Guess I'll get rid of these. However...maybe you'll prove to be more entertaining with our next try." He set the cages down, walking back to the metallic table and removing the tarp of the second cage._

_Inside it was a big tarantula._

_Kokichi began to hyperventilate._

_Takuro opened the cage and let the spider crawl into his hand. He carefully carried it over to Kokichi, and set it down on his chest._

_"Get it off! Get it off of me! I'm fucking begging you to stop!" Kokichi screamed, his voice going several octaves higher. The spider slowly made it's way closer to Kokichi's face. Kokichi let out a scream comparable to a banshee on crack, and just as it got to his neck, the world went dark._

_He was fortunate to have lost consciousness from pure fright._

. . .

Kokichi woke with a start, shaking. He felt something warm on his hand and panicked, yanking back, crying out when the IV popped out of his arm. Kaito stepped back, eyes wide. "W-woah! Kichi! Are you okay?"

"K-Kaito..?"

"Hold on, let me get Mikan," Kaito hurried out of the room, calling out for Mikan, who came in within minutes to fix the little mess he made. She gave him a weak smile, and left afterwards. Kaito sighed as he sat back down, his lilac eyes wide in concern. "Are you okay?" he asked again.

"No," Kokichi whispered.

"Do you...want to talk about it..?"

Kokichi averted his gaze.

"Guess not," Kaito sighed, "well, that's fine. I'll wait however long you want me to."

Kokichi gulped. "Kaito...I...I'm scared. Everytime I close my eyes I see him. It's...it's so much worse than with Haruto," he said quietly, his voice trembling. Kaito frowned, scooting closer to him. He hesitated, but held Kokichi's hand. Kokichi continued speaking. "It's like...I have so much to remember from what Takuro's done to me. I remember it all. I remember all the pain he inflicted upon me. He...he toyed around with me. He even talked to Haruto and asked about my biggest fears."

"Ah...he did? That makes sense," Kaito murmured.

"Huh?"

"A couple days ago, I...I visited Haruto," Kaito sighed, "and he seemed to have already known about you going missing. About how his uncle took you captive. He was...using that to get to me, a lot."

"Why would you visit him?" Kokichi was confused.

Kaito scratched the back of his neck. "Well, I was hoping that he would either cooperate or let a small hint slip on where you could possibly be. He didn't know, but he kept playing with the idea that you were already suffering, or even dead."

"That...does sound like Haruto," Kokichi mumbled.

"He seems completely indifferent to being in prison," Kaito looked disturbed, "I was hoping he'd be suffering more."

"Well, even if he was, he'd never let it show," Kokichi leaned forward a little, "he has too much pride to ever let someone he hates know he's suffering. He knows that's what we want, so he won't show it."

"That makes much more sense. He was calling it cozy and acting like it wasn't a big deal."

Kokichi nodded. Sounds like Haruto wasn't changing at all. He looked out the window. It was light outside. "Hey, Kaito?"

"Yeah?"

"If...if I told you...where Takuro kept me...would you go there?" he asked.

"Without a doubt," Kaito answered immediately.

Kokichi didn't look at him, but his frown deepened. "What if I don't want you to?"

"Huh?"

"...Nothing. Nevermind."

"Kokichi..."

"It's fine. We...moved locations, you know."

Kaito nodded. "Yeah, Shuichi told me that weeks ago," he said slowly, "maybe Shuichi and I can check one of the houses out and his uncle can check the other out?" he suggested.

"Maybe."

"Where are the houses located at?" Kaito asked.

"Well, one of them is actually in the same area as where Takuro kidnapped me. Which is why I was ignored when I was running away from him yelling for help," Kokichi pushed some of his hair behind his ear, "back when we moved to the second location, he explained it to me. That house isn't his- it was his dad's. People were afraid that he'd do to them what his dad did to women back then. So they acted like they didn't know what was going on to protect themselves."

"Oh," Kaito released a breath he'd been holding.

"You might be able to find out which is his dad's place from the locals now."

"Yeah."

Kokichi bit his lip. "The other is on the outskirts of town, on the east. You walk for awhile before you come across a small forest, and follow the path until you come across two paths. One goes basically around the house to keep going deeper into the forest, and if you stick to the path you're on, you'll eventually come across the house."

"I'll let Shuichi and his uncle know," Kaito ran his hands through Kokichi's hair. "I promise he won't get away with this."

Kokichi gave him a dry smile. Kaito leaned over and gently pressed his lips to Kokichi's before pulling away.

His small smile turned a little more real.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> VERY short chapter but I'm sleepy and bored with it  
> it should pick up next chapter though! Keep up with the kudos and comments!


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kaito, Shuichi and Jiro do investigating.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woot woot...

Kaito got out of his truck once he reached his destination. Shuichi and Rantaro's place. He jogged to the door, giving it a rough knock. There was a pause, before the door softly clicked unlocked, and Rantaro opened the door. He blinked in surprise. "Oh, hey Kaito."

"Hey, is Shuichi here?"

"Yeah, he's here, but he's still asleep. He was up all night taking notes and going over transcripts he received from the hospital," Rantaro explained, his eyebrows furrowing in concern. 

"Transcripts? When did he get those?"

Rantaro leaned against the threshold of the doorway, crossing his arms in thought. "Since yesterday, when we all first visited Kokichi. While we were leaving, Shuichi stopped Mikan and asked her for the transcripts on Kokichi's injuries. She obliged really easily, since she knows he's a detective in training and working on the case with his uncle," he said, "but he's been...not mentally well. So he didn't get to it right away."

"That makes sense. So because he didn't work on it right away, he pushed himself to finish it last night?" Kaito asked.

"Yeah, the report on the transcripts is due tonight, and he worried if he didn't finish it he wouldn't get it done on time. He's really overworking himself, so I'm hoping he'll sleep in," Rantaro sighed.

Kaito nodded. "That's...just like him to overwork himself until he drops. Well, when he wakes up, will you tell him to call me immediately? I have a lead on where Takuro would be."

"Why not just call his uncle?"

The taller paused. "I don't have his number. And there's two locations, so..."

"Oh, you want his uncle to investigate one place while Shuichi investigates the other?"

"Me and Shuichi," Kaito corrected, "I don't know if Takuro will be at one or the other, and we both know Shuichi can't defend himself. So I'll be going to protect him, just in case."

Rantaro smiled. "Thank you, Kaito."

"He's my sidekick, I'll protect him to the ends of the earth!"

Rantaro chuckled. "Alright, I'll let him know when he wakes up."

"Thanks," Kaito spun around on his heel and left, getting back in his truck. He sat in the drivers seat as Rantaro went back inside the house. He sat there, unsure what to do now. He just left the hospital, Kokichi had passed out again. Hopefully he wouldn't be having another nightmare. So, what could he do? He couldn't just go home and wait for Shuichi to wake up. He couldn't stand just sitting around doing nothing.

...Maybe now would be a good opportunity to check in on Maki.

He hadn't really been paying attention to her, and he knew she always bottled up her emotions to try to be strong. That's what she did when Kokichi was missing. Kaito knew this, but he never did anything about it. With a nod to himself, he started up his truck and drove to Maki's apartment.

Once arriving, he jogged up the stairs, knocking on her door next. It was about ten in the morning, so she should definitely be awake by now.

Sure enough, she opened the door. She was wearing a black spaghetti strap tank top and dark red leggings, her hair was down. The strong scent of coffee wafted into his nose. Kaito beamed.

"Morning Maki roll!"

"What do you want?"

"So cold. I just wanna check up on you!"

"I'm fine."

Kaito frowned. "Come on, Maki roll, you and I both know that's a lie."

Maki sighed, a small, wistful smile on her face. "Since when did you become the king of spotting lies?"

"Since Kokichi became my boyfriend."

"Fair enough," she conceded and opened the door more, stepping aside for him. Kaito headed inside. The two sat on the couch. Maki picked up her coffee from the table and sipped it, her ruby red eyes trained on Kaito.

"So...what's uh...on your mind?" Kaito asked lamely, "you know you can talk to me about anything."

"I know," she said after setting her coffee down. Kaito waited. She sighed. "The stress isn't as bad now. I mean, I'm still worried about Kokichi, but I'm mostly concerned about Mikan."

"About Mikan?"

"Yeah. She's been picking up hours at the hospital to keep a close eye on Kokichi. Since he's our friend, she promised to make sure he stays safe and stable," Maki explained, "she's only home for about five hours before she heads back to the hospital. She's working nineteen hours at a time."

"Isn't that illegal?"

"No."

"Oh."

Maki clenched her fists. "She's going to get sick herself from overworking."

Kaito sighed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Seems like everyone's overworking themselves. Shuichi, Mikan..."

"Well, that's just how they are, I suppose."

"It just makes me wish I could do more. Everyone's out here straining themselves and I'm sitting on my ass doing nothing. Kokichi's my boyfriend, I should be the one on top of everything."

Maki frowned. "You can't be the hero of everything. Let someone else be the hero. It doesn't make you useless to let someone else take the reigns. This is their job, their specialty. So just be there for them when you can. I'm sure they'll appreciate that more than anything."

"Yeah, I plan on it," Kaito suddenly paused, chuckling awkwardly. "This is supposed to be about you, not me."

"I already talked about what I was concerned with," a small smile flitted across the stoic girl's face, "but thank you for your concern."

Kaito shifted. "If you're sure..."

"Yes. Kokichi is back and safe, everyone is a little less stressed, the only issue is Mikan overworking herself. I'll talk to her when she gets home later," Maki said.

"Okay..." before he could say anything else, his phone started ringing. He pulled it out, his eyes widening in surprise upon seeing Shuichi's name flash on the screen. He got up and gave Maki an apologetic look. "Sorry, I gotta go."

Maki waved him off. "Go. I'm trying to enjoy my morning."

Kaito grinned and left. Once he was outside with the door closed behind him, he answered his phone. "Yo, Shuichi."

_"Morning Kaito."_

"You good, bro? You sound tired."

_"I just woke up a few minutes ago. Rantaro told me you had a lead on Takuro?"_

Kaito hesitated. Should he tell Shuichi so quickly? He quickly decided yes, he should. They needed to track him down before he could get away. "Yeah. There are two locations for Takuro, yeah?"

_"Yeah..?"_

"Kokichi told me where the second location was. And I figured we should check the first house again, just in case he's not there."

Shuichi was quiet for a moment. _"A-ah! You mean my uncle, me, and you?"_

"Right! Your uncle can check one, and we'll check the other!" Kaito beamed.

_"Alright. We'll go. Give me a little bit to shower and get ready."_

"Nice. Text me when you're ready, and I'll pick you up."

_"I'll call my uncle. See you soon."_

"Bye." Kaito hung up. He ended up driving around town to pass time, until he got a text from Shuichi about an hour later, informing him he was good to go. Kaito headed over, and sent a text stating he was there. Shuichi came out, clad in his usual all black attire. He got in the passenger seat.

"Can we stop by the station? My uncle wants to talk to us face to face."

"Sure." Kaito started driving.

They arrived at the station within several minutes, and walked in. Detective Jiro Saihara came out, and offered a smile. "Hey. So, you have a lead on Takuro, Kaito?" he got straight to business.

"Yes sir."

"Alright," Jiro motioned them in to his office. They all sat down. "So where's the locations?"

"According to Kokichi..."

-

_Kokichi bit his lip. "The other is on the outskirts of town, on the east. You walk for awhile before you come across a small forest, and follow the path until you come across two paths. One goes basically around the house to keep going deeper into the forest, and if you stick to the path you're on, you'll eventually come across the house."_

-

"I see. If that's the second location, I will go there myself. I take it both of you are going to the first location?"

"Yes." Kaito answered.

"But if Kokichi was taken to the second location, wouldn't Takuro still be there?" Shuichi asked.

"It's a possibility. And because it's so far out of town, I'm going. I don't want to risk your lives. He's in the middle of nowhere- anything could happen," Jiro sighed. Shuichi slowly nodded in understanding. Jiro tapped his finger against his desk. "If you do not find anything noteworthy, let me know. If you do, let me know. Call me once your investigation is over."

"Okay." The three of them left after that, going their separate ways.

Kaito drove to the neighborhood where Kokichi had been originally taken. Shuichi pointed out the house. "There. That one. That's where Takuro lives. Park over there, though, just in case he's there and sees us and escapes through the backyard."

"Nice thinking," Kaito pulled over a few houses down. They got out, and headed to the house. Kaito made sure Shuichi stayed behind him and tried the door. To his surprise, it was unlocked. Maybe Takuro wasn't there after all? That would make the investigation easier. Still, Kaito wanted nothing more than to punch him for traumatizing Kokichi further than he already had been.

The two walked inside. Kaito stopped Shuichi. "Keep the door open, wait here. If he's here and comes out, run. I'll check around the house real quick."

Shuichi frowned. "Be careful, Kaito."

"I will," Kaito shot him a grin and headed in. He checked the kitchen, the dining room, the bedrooms, the bathrooms, the closets...no sign of him. Relieved, he headed back to the living room, where Shuichi waited by the front door. He gave him a thumbs up. "Coast is clear."

Shuichi shut the door and headed in. "Alright. Just...look for anything suspicious."

Kaito smiled nervously. "I'm not too good at determining whether or not something's suspicious not."

Shuichi looked around and suddenly paused. "What's that door lead to?" Kaito followed his gaze. He blinked. How had he missed that?

"I don't know. I'll check it out."

Shuichi nodded. Kaito headed to the door and opened it, blinking. "Looks like it leads to a basement."

"A basement?" Shuichi perked up, "that's really suspicious. I'll come with you down."

"Okay. You're the detective," Kaito headed down the stairs, noticing the light was on. He slowed a little. Shuichi followed close behind. Kaito turned the corner at the bottom of the stairs and let out a gasp.

Takuro was there, typing away at a laptop.

"You!" Kaito growled. Shuichi froze behind him.

Takuro turned towards them, eyeing them warily. He set the laptop down. "Well, well. If it isn't Kokichi Ouma's boyfriend. Tell me, is Detective Saihara with you?"

Shuichi came down, poking his head out. Takuro stared, then threw his head back, laughing.

"Oh my god. The great Detective Saihara sent his brat to investigate."

"He's investigating your other house. The other location. Kokichi told us where it was."

Takuro shook his head. "I figured as much. Little brat doesn't know when to shut up."

Kaito's eyes narrowed, and Shuichi tensed.

"I mean," Takuro continued, a wicked smile crossing his face, "everytime I tortured him, he wouldn't stop screaming. He yelled for me to stop, he begged me, he pleaded me, all to stop."

Kaito clenched his fists, feeling himself trembling. "Stop."

"And get this! I scared him so badly with a mere tarantula that he passed out from fear! I bet everytime he sees a spider, he'll remember me, and all the pain I inflicted upon him. He may have escaped, but no matter what happens to me, I will always be on his mind!" Takuro let out a small cackle.

Kaito lunged at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well this was a shit show


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shuichi sometimes just feels helpless.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow its been awhile hi. uhh. Normally I'd put this at the end but I have something to discuss with everyone at the end.  
> It is pretty short, but...uwah.  
> I hope yall enjoy the chapter, regardless!

_"I mean," Takuro continued, a wicked smile crossing his face, "everytime I tortured him, he wouldn't stop screaming. He yelled for me to stop, he begged me, he pleaded me, all to stop."_

_Kaito clenched his fists, feeling himself trembling. "Stop."_

_"And get this! I scared him so badly with a mere tarantula that he passed out from fear! I bet everytime he sees a spider, he'll remember me, and all the pain I inflicted upon him. He may have escaped, but no matter what happens to me, I will always be on his mind!" Takuro let out a small cackle._

_Kaito lunged at him._

Shuichi stepped back when Kaito threw his coat down, running to Takuro. His eyes widened as Kaito's fist went flying, connecting to Takuro's jaw. Takuro flung back and fell, and Kaito was on top of him in moments. Shuichi put his hands to his chest, tensing up. "Kaito!" he called, stepping forward slightly. Kaito didn't listen, he was punching Takuro left and right. Takuro, after regaining his senses, threw Kaito off of him and rolled over, pinning him down. He started hitting him. Shuichi tugged uselessly at his hair, trembling.

What was he supposed to do? He wasn't a fighter. Sure, he's gotten stronger thanks to Kaito's training, but he didn't know how to fight. That wasn't in his job description. But still, he couldn't just let this happen.

He moved forward, but before he could do anything, Kaito shoved Takuro off of him, elbowing him in the face. When Takuro stumbled back, Kaito slammed his fist into his gut, his face twisted into anger. "You _motherfucker_ ," he snarled, "I'll kill you for this!"

"Kaito!" Shuichi pleaded, jumping out of the way when the two men rolled on the ground. Kaito grabbed a candle- it was a fake one, one of the ones where you had to flick it on and the flame was just a little light bulb, and started smashing it repeatedly against Takuro's face. Shuichi cringed with each hit, watching with paralyzing fear as blood started spewing from Takuro's face.

Kaito had changed. Ever since Kokichi was kidnapped, Kaito had changed. It wasn't significant, but he was more...negative, than he was before. He could pinpoint the exact moment Kaito had started becoming a little less positive.

. . .

_"Kokichi's missing," Kaito said in a surprisingly steady tone. At once, it went silent. Finally, Kiibo was the first to speak, much to Shuichi surprise. Kiibo gasped out a soft 'what', as though he couldn't believe what he'd heard. Not that Shuichi blamed him. He was shocked too._

_"I said he's missing," Kaito repeated, his voice shaking. Shuichi felt his heart race as Himiko spoke up._

_"Where...where was he last seen? Is he anywhere around there?"_

_Kaito looked frustrated. "Obviously not. Do you really think I wouldn't have already searched for him?" he snapped. Himiko shrunk back in on herself, wrapping her arms around her legs as she hiccuped out an apology. Kaito sighed, running his hand through his hair. "No, I'm sorry, Himiko. I'm just worried. We found out he was missing about eight hours ago now. I've been up all night."_

_. . ._

And even when Kaito was trying to help him, he just...wasn't the same. How badly had Kaito truly been affected by Kokichi's disappearance? Why had Shuichi not done more to help him, like he always did for him? It wasn't fair to Kaito.

. . .

_Shuichi took a slow and deep inhale, and slowly exhaled. He dropped his hands but continued staring down. "Earlier, I was investigating with my uncle, right? Well, we were on a stakeout, and we..." he paused and backtracked, "my uncle knows the kidnapper. And...and we do too."_

_"What? We do?" Kaito's eyes widened, "well shit, who is it?"_

_"Takuro Emon."_

_Kaito stared at Shuichi blankly. "Who?"_

_Shuichi fiddled with his fingers. "He...he's Haruto's uncle, remember?" Shuichi asked quietly. Kaito stared at him, before he let out a gasp when he finally did remember._

_"Holy shit, I remember him!" Kaito blurted, his eyes widening. Shuichi flinched slightly at his sudden loud voice and calmed himself. "I remember him. He was that tall guy who kept glaring at Kichi."_

_Shuichi nodded. "Right. Well...my uncle had his suspicions and we got his license plate earlier. We went back to his office and found his address."_

_"Well, that's great, isn't it?"_

_"In theory, yeah, but..." Shuichi bit his lip, "I think we were found out. The house was completely empty when we got there."_

_"Fuck," Kaito hissed, clenching his fists in anger, "just when we thought we caught up to him..."_

_"He escapes," Shuichi finished, running his hands through his hair. "I have no idea where he could be. I tried to get in contact with the best detective in the country, that woman...Kyoko Kirigiri? But her staff had answered and said she already has a huge line of clients, and it could take months to get to me."_

_"We don't have months," Kaito deflated._

_. . ._

Shuichi jumped back to reality when Takuro coughed out blood. He took a shaky step to the side and gasped. Kaito's face was blind with fury.

_He's really going to kill him...I have to do something! We need him...Kokichi needs him!_

Shuichi ran forward, wrapping his arms around Kaito from behind. "Kaito! Stop!" he raised his voice, "you'll kill him!"

"He deserves it, Shuichi!"

"Think about Kokichi! You'll be abandoning him if you go through with this!" he shouted. This made Kaito freeze, the bloody candle still in his hand. He dropped the candle to the ground, slowly moving off Takuro. He turned to face Shuichi. The look on his face...was one Shuichi was never going to forget. His eyes, which had tears pricking at the corners, were wide, fearful, empty. His lips were slightly parted, and trembling.

"I...I..."

Shuichi leaned forward, resting his hand on Kaito's arm. "It's okay, Kaito."

"I almost..."

"I know."

"I really...almost killed him?" his voice was unnaturally small and shaky. When Shuichi nodded, all the fight seemed to leave Kaito. His head dropped and he clutched at his messy hair, letting out a choked sob, followed by a loud wail.

It was one of the most heartbreaking things Shuichi ever heard.

Takuro slowly sat up, his gaze unfocused. He smirked. "I knew you couldn't do it."

Shuichi turned to Takuro, his face hardening. "You keep your mouth shut. If you try to go anywhere, I'll take you down myself." As if he could...well, in his state, he probably could, actually. Takuro shrugged, though his smirk didn't fade. Shuichi took his phone out of his pocket, promptly calling the police. He explained everything before hanging up and calling his uncle.

"Hey, uncle. We found Takuro."

_"Is everything alright?"_

"Yeah, we're not hurt."

_"And Takuro?"_

"Detained. I already called the police."

_"Fantastic. I'll be on my way to the station. Have you finished Kokichi's transcripts, by the way?"_

"Yes. I'll give them to you after we finish with the police."

_"Alright. Goodbye."_

"Bye," Shuichi hung up. He glanced at Takuro, who seemed to be focused on gathering his bearings. He looked over at Kaito, who hadn't moved from his spot. Not too long after, the police were in and handcuffing Takuro before taking him away. The police quickly gathered that Kaito had beaten him, and requested Kaito come in for questioning. Shuichi got up.

"I was here too, when he was fighting Takuro. I can testify to anything he says," he said.

The police agreed to let Shuichi come with them.

At the station, Kaito was questioned about the state Takuro was in. Kaito recounted what'd happened, his voice shaking.

"I was gonna kill him," he whispered, "I was...I was..."

"He was antagonized," Shuichi cut in, "it doesn't excuse his actions, but...I fear if Kaito hadn't done anything, Takuro would have tried something dirty." The officer gave them a suspicious look, and then the door opened, an officer came in. If Shuichi remembered correctly, his name was Officer Nagamine. He offered his boss a sharp, confident smile.

"If I may, I can confirm that Momota acted purely in self defense. Emon just confessed to having plans of murdering Momota and Saihara. Had he not attacked him, we would have had two extra bodies. And I myself can vouche for Momota." When Kaito turned to him with wide eyes, Nagamine winked, smiling.

His boss, the officer questioning them, let out a sigh. "Alright. You may go, Nagamine. And you two, I'll excuse what happened this time, but on one condition."

Shuichi and Kaito waited.

"Never do anything like this again. If you see a criminal, you call the police instead of handling it yourselves. I don't want two bright young men like yourselves to end up in a body bag," he sounded tired.

"Yes sir," Shuichi spoke. The officer dismissed them, and they left. Kaito headed out, presumably to go visit Kokichi, and Shuichi called Rantaro to bring the transcripts to the station, as he hadn't brought them with him when they left earlier.

They were getting closer and closer to putting Takuro behind bars for life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's talk about sexuality and shipping.  
> There needs to be a semblance of understanding as to why you ship some characters. Ships are used for coping, for fun, etc, and that's fine. If you ship a canon or at least homo coded character with a straight opposite sex character is when it's more of a problem, but whatever. You do you while I vomit in the corner.  
> Specifically I bring this up to mention the Amacha ship. (Which, for you lucky souls who never heard of it, it's Tenko x Rantaro). If asked why you ship it and you simply say "for the dynamic" or "it's a comfort ship" or, anything like that. Whatever. I'll simply ignore you. It's when you say stupid shit like "Tenko was nice to Rantaro so she can still be attracted to guys" is where I fucking draw the line. That is blatant fucking lesbian erasure. And the wholeass point of v3 was to show fiction did effect reality. If you have this mindset for fiction, then you'll end up believing it irl as well, and as a lesbian myself, that is NOT fucking okay. I myself have literally NEARLY BEEN FUCKING ASSAULTED at my WORK because I said I was a lesbian and this guy kept saying "but you're so nice to everyone" (everyone being guys and girls who came in). He left the store, I was closing alone, I locked the door after he left, did my nightly duties, and 10 mins later I was back at the front crunching in the numbers and the same dude comes back, yanking at the door handle and banging on the glass YELLING at me to open the door so he can "show me what a real man is like".  
> SO YES YOUR COMMENTS ARE ACTUALLY VERY FUCKING HARMFUL.  
> If you wanna fucking ship amacha, go a fucking head, that's your damn business. But do not *EVER* Fucking say to my face "well she's nice to guys so she can still be attracted to them".
> 
> Sorry for the rant, I just <3 yeah. Do not ever use that excuse to ship them.


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kokichi and Kaito have a moment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, a chapter??? Are yall alive???

Kokichi stared out the window as he listened to the sound of his heart monitor, beeping normally. He was feeling fine right now, the painkillers he'd taken earlier had kicked in. He wasn't tired, though. Or hungry. He just wanted to see Kaito, or Rantaro, or Shuichi. Anyone, even Himiko would have been welcomed. Sure, he knew his friends all had other stuff they were doing, but that didn't mean he didn't get lonely.

The door slid open. Expecting the nurses to make their rounds, he didn't move. It was quiet for a moment before he heard a dry chuckle.

"What, no greeting?"

Kokichi perked up and turned, a wide grin spreading across his face.

The grin disappeared quickly.

Kaito was beaten. He had bruises lining his face, his lip torn. He was rubbing his arm, smiling weakly. "What's up, Kokichi?"

"What the fuck happened?" Kokichi demanded, his violet eyes narrowing. Kaito laughed a little, shrugging. Kokichi's brow twitched. "I'm waiting on your answer, Kaito," he hissed.

"Oh, these?" Kaito's smile became more lopsided. "Nothing, really."

"Did you fucking hit your head or some shit? Obviously it's not nothing!"

"You sound like Miu."

"Stop avoiding my question!"

Kaito sighed. "Shuichi and I found Takuro. I got into a fight with him, that's all." Seeing Kokichi's displeased face, he quickly began to explain. "I mean, he was trash talking you, Kichi. Saying all sorts of shit and I just...I don't like it. You didn't deserve what happened to you. And he was bragging about it. Please understand, Kichi," he pleaded.

Kokcihi shook his head. "I get it, but _you_ got hurt too. Dumbass."

"It was worth it. I wasn't satisfied until I punched the ugly smirk off his face. God, he's as bad as Haruto was."

Kokichi smirked. "Maybe not."

"They both hurt you. Haruto assaulted you and Takuro kidnapped you and tortured you."

"Eh. Trauma is trauma. Doesn't matter."

Kaito paused at that. "What..? What do you mean, it doesn't matter?"

Kokichi smiled. "I mean, what I went through. It doesn't matter. I'll heal." It felt as though Kokichi was listening to himself from another perspective, as though he wasn't in control of what he was saying. Was this what people called dissociation? Wow it felt weird, he mused to himself.

However, Kaito looked stressed. "It _does_ matter, Kichi. What the hell..? Why...you're not even freaking out? Aren't you scared?"

"It doesn't matter," Kokichi repeated.

"It does."

"No, it doesn't," Kokichi's voice grew slightly hysterical, "I mean, you got hurt. So-"

"So what?! I got hurt because _I_ picked a fight, goddammit! _You_ didn't ask to get tortured!" Kaito rose his voice.

Kokichi could faintly hear his heart monitor pick up. "It doesn't! Stop saying it does!"

"Only when you stop denying your trauma!"

"Kaito, please," Kokichi begged.

"No, Kichi! Having coping mechanisms is fine, I even let your stupid self deprecating humor slide every now and then, but I'm not going to let you deny the fact you're hurting. Denial isn't healthy, you need to accept what happened to you!"

Tears pricked Kokichi's eyes.

Kaito's face softened and he stepped over to the hospital bed. He sat on the edge, the bed dipping slightly. He opened his arms for a hug, but otherwise didn't move. "I care about you, Kichi. I know I sound like a jackass but...I don't want this harder for you. I'm here for you, I love you, you're safe now."

Kokichi stared at his boyfriend's welcoming arms before crawling closer and sitting on his lap, wrapping his arms around his neck and burying his face in his collarbone. He didn't speak, not even when he felt Kaito tightly hug him- though wary of his wounds. Slowly, his tears began leaking from his eyes. "It hurts, Kaito," he whispered, "I can't sleep. I can't eat. It all tastes so bland. I can't..."

"I know."

Kokichi's grip tightened. "I can't handle it. I want it to end."

"You're okay," Kaito whispered, "I'm here. Nothing else is going to happen. You're okay. You're safe."

"I'm safe..." Kokichi breathed, choking back a sob, "it doesn't feel real though. When I was escaping...I..." he looked at his bandaged hand. Kaito glanced at it, before gently caressing it.

"You..?"

"Well..."

. . .

_Kokichi wasn't sure what time it was, but after god knows how long, he heard the front door slam, and faintly, he heard the sound of the car being turned on. He was leaving. Now was his chance. He had to hurry._

_He tugged at the ropes, notably looser than before, biting his lip. They were still tight, but he could move them. Maybe, just maybe, since he was so small and boney he could just...slide them out._

_He struggled._

_"Come on...please..." Kokichi whispered, tugging and yanking at the ropes. It hurt his wrist too much to pull free, and yet...he groaned._

_He'd been at this for several minutes. What if they weren't far from his hometown at all and Takuro was on his way back? It was that thought that put him in panic. He took a deep breath and focused on his right wrist. He began tugging and yanking, and slowly, he felt it slip free...but his victory wasn't without price. Blood started gushing slowly from his wrist. It was as if he was being skinned. He cried out as he kept tugging. The rope was around to his knuckles now. He was almost done. Just...a little more...he gave one final yank, and his bloody hand flung out._

_Kokichi nearly cried in relief. He managed to sit up a bit and turned his body to his left hand. He reached out for it, fiddling desperately with the rope with his shaky hand. Thankfully, much to Kokichi's genuine joy, the rope loosened enough for him to pull free without hurting his other hand._

. . .

"That's..." Kaito cringed, "Christ, Kichi..."

"I had to do it," Kokichi insisted, "if I didn't, I wouldn't have been able to escape."

"I know that, but still..."

"It'll heal."

"Yeah but..."

"It's fine. Sacrificing the skin on my hand was worth it, if it mean escaping," Kokichi stared into Kaito's doubtful eyes, "I'm not denying it, I promise. I mean it. I'm glad I escaped."

"I'm glad too, Kichi. I just wish you hadn't have had to suffer to do so," Kaito sighed.

Kokichi smiled, a small but real smile. "I'll heal. Physically, and eventually, mentally."

Kaito chuckled. "I know you will. You're one of the strongest people I know."

"Course I am, haven't you seen my muscles?"

Kaito played along. "Yep. You're all tough and muscular. How could I ever compare?"

"You can't. I'm clearly the most muscular of us all," Kokichi flexed his twig arms.

"Sexy."

Kokichi started giggling. Kaito grinned.

"Of course that doesn't mean you're...exempt."

"Exempt from what?"

Kaito's grin turned evil. "Tickles."

"No!" Kokichi got off of Kaito's lap and scooted as far back as he could. "No tickles allowed!"

"Not now, I don't wanna risk hurting you further," Kaito agreed, "but when you're healed..."

"I'll live with Miu!"

"Miu won't protect you."

"Then Maki! She'll tell you 'stop it, idiot'."

"Nah, she'll agree with me. All gremlins deserve to be tickled."

"I'm not a gremlin, I'm a baby," Kokichi batted his eyes.

"You're a fucking rat," Kaito replied.

"Hey now!"

Kaito laughed. He leaned over and ruffled his hair. "Aww, come on. You know you love it."

"No, I hate it. I hate it just as much as I hate your dumb ugly face!"

Kaito smirked. "You like my face. It's sexy and you know it."

"...Did you just make an LMFAO reference?"

"So what if I did?"

"You're a fucking dumbass. No one uses that song as a reference anymore. That's soooo ten years ago. Then again, you sing old people songs so maybe I should be impressed that you upgraded so much..."

"Hey! Those songs are classics!"

"Sure," Kokichi snorted.

"What's wrong with the classics?"

"They're old."

Kaito scoffed. "What about when we grow old? Are you gonna say the songs you grew up with are outdated?"

"Yep."

"You'll miss these songs!"

"Nah."

"You will!"

"Well how can you miss the classics? You weren't alive when they came out!"

"But-!" Kaito, not having an argument, sulked and crossed his arms. Kokichi started laughing and crawled closer.

"Aww, it's okay Kaito. I still love you, even if your taste in music is absolute garbage," he stuck his tongue out.

"Such a rude boyfriend I have."

"You love me anyway."

"That I do."

"And for my personality, at that! What are you, some kind of masochist?" Kokichi teased.

Kaito laughed. "Maybe I am," he leaned over and gently brushed Kokichi's bangs back, giving his forehead a light kiss. "But it's worth it." As he spoke, Kokichi's face heated up, and his heart monitor picked up. Kaito's grin turned into a smile.

"Stupid..."

"Maybe."

Kokichi rolled his eyes. Kaito chuckled and rested his forehead against Kokichi's. "You're really dumb, Kaito."

"Love you too, Kichi."

"Yeah, yeah. I love you too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *I am wailing* I'm SO SORRY for taking forever, I'm hella hyperfixated on other stuff. I PROMISE I WILL FINISH THIS FIC ONLY 2 CHAPTERS LEFT!!!


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kokichi isn't actually okay.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi does anyone still exist?

"U-um...Kaito?" Mikan's soft, light, high pitched voice rang out from the entrance of Kokichi's hospital room. Kaito, who was now laying on the hospital bed with Kokichi, who was asleep on top of him, let out a hum. His hands brushed through Kokichi's tangled dark hair absentmindedly. Mikan hesitated before finally speaking. "It's...um...well," she stammered, "v-visiting hours are o-over so..."

It was time to go.

Kaito frowned. "Can't I stay here? I mean, we just got him back and he's not doing so good mentally. I wanna make sure he's actually okay."

Mikan fidgeted. "W-well, that's up to the head nurse..."

"Err..."

"Y-yes?"

"Aren't  _ you _ the head nurse?"

"...Ah!" Mikan gripped her hair, a dazed look crossing her face. "Th-th-that's right! I totally forgot about that promotion I got! Ohhh, I'm bad with decisions like these!" she whined, her face turning fearful. "O-on one hand, making sure th-that the patient is o-okay should t-take top priority but if you're here it could stress the patient out further trying to converse and he could make his injuries worse and then everyone will be mad at me and hate me!" she burst into tears.

"Hey, Mikan, try to calm down, Kichi's asleep," Kaito smiled awkwardly.

"I-I'm sorry! I'm sorry for ruining everything again!" she wailed, "I don't want you to hate me too, Kaito, so you can stay!" it looked like it took a lot of mental strength to say that.

"Ahaha, thanks," Kaito laughed a little, giving her a sympathetic stare. Mikan staggered off, clearly tired.

Maki roll had her work cut out for her, huh.

Kaito shook his head with a smile and rolled over slightly, glancing at Kokichi's sleeping face. He looked so peaceful. It was a relief, honestly, to see him actually resting. He knew Kokichi was going to have troubles again...well, more so than he already was. The poor boy was still traumatized by the events that had transpired over a year ago, with Haruto.

Haruto...Kaito shut his eyes. He knew the punkass wouldn't change. He couldn't stop thinking about the encounter with him from the other day.

~

_ "Kokichi is as good as dead. I wouldn't put it past my uncle to have killed him by now. How long has he been missing?" he mocked. _

_ Kaito gritted his teeth. "About a month now. Two more days marks a full month." _

_ "So it's June seventh now?" _

_ "Yes." _

_ "Nice, nice. We don't have calendars or anything here, so it's hard to keep track." _

_ "Enough beating around the bush, where has your uncle taken Kokichi?" Kaito snapped. _

_ Haruto rose his eyebrows. "Honestly? I don't have a clue. Well, I mean, I have a couple destinations in mind, but I'm not going to tell you anything. And you can't make me either without being escorted out," he smirked, his face smug. _

_ "Then tell me this, is he still in our Prefecture?" Kaito demanded. _

_ Haruto mulled it over for a moment. "Maybe." _

_ "Maybe?" _

_ "But also maybe not. I don't know what my uncle plans on doing. But that makes it all the more fun, huh? I don't know, so I can safely say this as I watch you squirm and pointlessly search for Kokichi, knowing it's highly likely that it's too late to save him," Haruto let out a low cackle. _

_ "You're fucking detestable." _

_ - _

_ "What about your aunt?" Kaito asked. _

_ Haruto rolled his eyes. "Aunt Itsuko? What about her? She's just a failure of a wife and woman," he spat. _

_ "She cared about you." _

_ "As she should." _

_ "And you hurt her." _

_ "So?" _

_ "Oh my fucking- how can you be so heartless?" Kaito asked. _

_ Haruto simply shrugged, looking completely uninterested. "So, are you done? Is that all you came to talk to me about? This isn't as fun as our talk about Kokichi. I may not know the specifics, but I bet my uncle is making him suffer, and I can only hope he tells me all about it once he's dead." _

_ "You fucking-!" Kaito stood up. _

_ "Officer! I'm scared!" Haruto cried out. One guard rushed over, glaring at Kaito, who stepped back, bewildered. _

_ The guard didn't look very forgiving. "Visiting time is over. Please leave," he pointed at the door as he stood Haruto up. _

~

Thinking back on it...Haruto seemed to know a lot more than he was letting on. Takuro probably talked to Haruto over the phone, but how? Didn't prison officials record every phone call a prisoner makes? Or they had some sort of monitoring system? Or...did they maybe have some sort of coded speak?

Well, it didn't matter. Takuro was caught, and Haruto was in prison. Takuro, with the staggering amount of evidence against him, would soon join his shitty little nephew in prison. He wasn't going to get out of this, and that was the one and only thing that brought Kaito any semblance of comfort.

He shut his eyes. 

It was gonna be okay. That's what he believed in.

He started to doze off, his muscular arm wrapped around Kokichi's thin waist. It felt good to hold his small boyfriend again. He really missed it. He missed Kokichi. It still felt unreal that he was just...back. But in a good way. Slowly, he fell asleep, pleasant thoughts running through his head.

-

Kaito woke up a few hours later, as it was dark outside. He rubbed his eyes, wondering  _ why _ he woke up in the first place. Normally, Kaito had no problems sleeping through the night, save for the very occasional nightmare or sickness. He yawned, and was just about to fall back asleep, when he suddenly jolted, realization dawning on him slowly. He sat up quickly, panicking.

Kokichi wasn't with him.

_ 'Calm down,' _ he told himself,  _ 'he's probably just in the bathroom.' _

He got up and shuffled to the bathroom. He noticed the door. It was shut, and there was light coming from underneath it. So Kokichi was in there. He sighed in relief, and moved to tap on the door. “Kichi? You good in there?”

No answer.

Kaito frowned. He knocked a bit more loudly. “Kichi?” he repeated. Still, nothing. He hesitated, before he tried the doorknob. It worked. Kaito slowly pushed the door open, wondering if Kokichi had fallen asleep. He can carry him back to bed, no problem, if that was the case.

That wasn’t the case.

When he opened the door, he froze for a brief second, before lunging forward. “Kokichi!”

Kokichi was tearing at his now unbandaged right wrist, the bloody one. Blood was dripping all around him on to the floor. Tears were streaming down his face, and he was hyperventilating. He was paler than normal- though whether that was because of blood loss or because he couldn’t properly breathe, Kaito didn’t know. He didn’t exactly want to stop and find out.

He lunged forward, grabbing Kokichi’s left wrist, as well as his right forearm, careful not to hurt him further.

“Let go! Let me go!” Kokichi screamed out, instantly struggling.

“Kichi! It’s me! It’s Kaito!” Kaito shouted, trying to calm him down. Well, him screaming wasn’t going to calm him down. “Listen to me, breathe. In and out. Come on, you can do it. In for five, out for seven.” He started breathing slowly as demonstration, whispering soft words of encouragement.

Kokichi didn’t seem like he was listening at first, but he did stop struggling after several moments. He tried to breathe in, but it came out in sharp ragged gasps. Kaito didn’t stop, slowly letting go of Kokichi in order to rub his back to ground him. Kokichi focused on him, shaking.

Slowly, he was calming down and following Kaito’s lead.

“That’s it, keep going. In...one, two, three, four, five. And out...one, two, three, four, five, six, seven. Good, you’re doing really good, Kichi, keep it up,” Kaito murmured.

Kokichi finally calmed down, though his eyes were still full of tears. “Kaito?” he whispered.

“I’m here, it’s okay. What happened?”

“I...I woke up...to use the bathroom, but when I was washing my hands I...I couldn’t stand looking in the mirror, and I…” he let out a choked sob.

“You broke down,” Kaito finished, still rubbing his back. “It’s fine. You’re not there anymore. You’re safe.”

“I know…”

Kaito stopped after a moment. “Let’s call Mikan in. She should really fix your wrist back up.”

“Yeah…”

Kaito slowly helped Kokichi off the floor and guided him back to the bed. He pressed the Call Nurse button and waited. Merely a minute passed and Mikan was coming in.

“Did you need some-” Mikan froze and let out a shriek, rushing over. “Wh-wh-what happened?!”

“He had a bit of a breakdown,” Kaito said quietly.

“A bit?! You’re going to damage your nerves like this! I- I need to make sure you won’t lose feeling in your wrist!” and with that, she got to work. Kokichi didn’t say anything, nor did he grimace when she poked and prodded at it. She eventually cleaned it up, and bandaged him again.

“Feel better?” Kaito asked him gently.

Kokichi shrugged.

Kaito sighed and waited for Mikan to finish hooking him back up to a few of the machines and check his vitals. Once she left, Kaito wrapped his arms around Kokichi, humming quietly.

“Sorry,” Kokichi whispered.

“It’s fine. As long as you’re okay, it’s fine.”

“What about the blood in the bathroom?”

“I’m sure Mikan will be back to clean it.”

There was silence, the only noise being Kokichi’s heart monitor. Kaito sighed after a little bit. Kokichi glanced up at him questioningly.

“Do you wanna try to go back to sleep?”

Kokichi shrugged. “I guess.”

Kaito slowly laid them down and made sure to hold Kokichi gently, yet firmly. “It’s okay,” he murmured, “you’re okay.”

He watched Kokichi slowly fall asleep. He dozed off too.

-

It was around one in the afternoon when Miu, Shuichi, Maki and Angie came to visit. Miu was the first one in, slamming the door open.

“Yo Cock-itchy, you gotta fuckin hear this!” she shouted.

“Shh!” a passing nurse scolded.

Kaito sighed as Kokichi snickered.

“I’m not interested in hearing your mating cry.”

Miu made a loud squawking noise. “What- no! I’m serious! You need to listen to this!” she hurried over, slamming her manicured hands on the bed. “It’s seriously important!”

“What is it?” Kaito was the one to ask.

Miu got her phone out, fumbling with it. Maki sighed from behind her.

“You didn’t even have it pulled up?”

“Shut up, red eyes!” Miu suddenly shoved her phone in Kokichi’s face. Kokichi peered at it and let out a sharp gasp. Kaito leaned in too to read what made his little boyfriend so shocked. His eyes went wide at the article presented to them.

_ Takuro Emon, age 49, found dead in jail cell. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I got into a dgr zine as a writer, I don't know if I'm allowed to announce that yet though so I won't specify which one *head scratch* but somehow I made it in. I'll announce it when I know we can, so you can follow me on tumblr @ queen-of-sweets  
> But, due to this, I'll be trying to focus on dgr again! So I WILL get this done! If this fic hasn't been dropped. haha.  
> Also, after the zine's official release, I will probably be posting some scrapped ideas on ao3 for it :) since so many of them wanted to read some of them, but I figured for popularity purposes, I'll do who I do best, plus another very popular character.  
> Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chappy! One more to go!


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The story is finally coming to a close.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> goodbye despair

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Kaito asked, concern crinkling between his eyebrows as he stared at Kokichi. Kokichi merely shrugged, keeping his face as indifferent as he possible could.

"It doesn't matter if I want to or not. I need to. Stop looking so worried, you'll get wrinkles." He needed to do this. After finding out Takuro was dead, Kokichi knew he would have this conversation. She deserved to know.

"Hey-!"

Kokichi ignored his tall boyfriend's indignant squawk, stepping forward and lifting his hand, his unbandaged one. He tenderly knocked on the door. Moments later, he heard the door unlocking from the other side. Kokichi stepped back a little, and Kaito stepped forward to be next to him. The door opened, revealing the kind face of Itsuko Emon. She looked surprised to see the two males. Her hair was a little more gray than Kokichi remembered, and her face was more wrinkly. She smiled warmly.

"Kokichi...it's been awhile," she greeted.

"Hello, we..." Kokichi glanced at Kaito, a lump in his throat forming.

"We want to talk to you. About what happened," Kaito supplied, moving to squeeze Kokichi's shoulder. Itsuko nodded, understanding flashing in her eyes. She opened the door further to let them in.

"Please come in. Would you like some tea?"

"No, thank you," Kokichi said stiffly. Kaito shook his head as well. The two sat on the couch, their hands holding. Itsuko sat in her rocking chair across from them, her black eyes expectant.

"What exactly did you want to talk about?"

"Well...you know...Takuro is dead, right?" Kaito asked hesitantly.

Itsuko's smile grew a little sad. "Yes, I'm aware. The police came to my door on the night it happened."

"He had it coming," Kokichi muttered.

"I know," Itsuko said quietly.

"You know..? Yet you still look like you're going to cry," Kokichi pointed out, frowning. "Did you really love him? He...he kidnapped me. He tortured me. He raised Haruto to be a monster, and he's in prison. How can you even love someone like that?" he raised his voice a little.

"It's hard to explain, dear," Itsuko sighed.

"He didn't even love you...Haruto himself said that Takuro didn't care about anyone," Kaito chimed in.

Itsuko looked down at her wrinkled hands in her lap. "I wanted to be his light."

"His...light?" Kokichi repeated.

Itsuki rocked in her chair a little. "Back in the late 1800s," she started, "Takuro's great grandfather was born. His family was very religious. Quite terrifyingly so. His name was Yoshimatsu Emon. He was an obedient little boy, but his family ridiculed anyone who did not follow their beliefs. When he married, they had a son named Riko. However, it was around this time when the first world war was arising. So Riko went to fight in it, considering it honorable to himself and to his family."

"What does this have to do with-" Kaito started.

Itsuko held a hand up. "Yoshimatsu disagreed. When Riko came back with a badge of honor, Yoshimatsu threw it into a fire and criticized him heavily for being a murderer. For killing countless people, even those who were innocent who had been dragged into the war. Riko resigned in the military, and tried to start a new life to make up for it, having a son of his own, Kyo."

"Takuro's father..." Kokichi murmured.

"Yes. But Yoshimatsu refused to forgive his son. He told him he would burn in the very depths of hell. Riko slowly began to lose his sanity from the constant pressure and hatred of his own parents. That, plus his apathy from the war...he took his anger out on Kyo without any remorse. Kyo grew up surrounded by hatred and anger, until one day he got so angry at a woman, he murdered her. He reveled in it. In the power he had over these women. He took a specific liking to one. His head nurse. He was a doctor, after all...and he demanded she married him. So she agreed to protect herself. They had two children. Ai and Takuro. Takuro knew what his father was doing growing up, and neither seemed to care when Takuro's mother and sister left the family. Takuro started getting affected when his father was found and arrested."

"That's Shuichi's uncle's father who arrested him, right?" Kaito asked.

"Yes. He tried to live on, and that's when he met me," Itsuko smiled sadly, "we met almost forty years ago now. I was a waitress at a diner, and he was one of my customers. He'd gotten into a little spat with another customer, and I had to break it up. He was swearing and he was just so angry. I could tell he was a troubled soul. So I pursued him, and we talked, dated, and eventually married."

"You...you were the one who pursued him? Why?" Kaito asked, stunned.

"I was hoping to be the person in his life who believed him, so he could turn over a new leaf. I enjoyed helping him, and though he never said it, I'm quite sure he appreciated me being there with him. That's what I like to believe. His family...has been hard on each other for as long as he could remember. If there was just one person who could be with one of them without fear or disgust then maybe it would turn out okay," she sighed. "However, I seem to have simply enabled him. I allowed him to raise Haruto with hatred, teaching him wrong ideology. I did my best to help, but Haruto grew to slowly hate me."

"Some people aren't worth it, you know..." Kokichi said quietly, "why didn't you ever leave him?"

"Because I had hoped it will one day change. The day he kidnapped you, Kokichi, he stopped coming by. He called me on occasion, but it was just to tell me he'll be home eventually. I wasn't quite sure what he was doing, but I had a feeling I wouldn't be seeing him again."  


"And, in fact, you were right," Kaito sighed.

"Yes. With my husband dead now, my nephew in prison, and no other family to speak of, I'm alone now. But I stuck by his side, and while there are some things I would love to have changed, I don't regret a thing," she said.

"...I'm sorry," Kokichi said softly.

"Hm?"

"For your loss. I'm glad he's dead, but it can't be easy for you."

"Don't worry yourself, dear. Please, focus on getting better. It's...the opposite of what Takuro would have wanted," a ghost of a smile crept up on Itsuko's face.

"I don't get it though...why do you care so much? We caused your husband's death, and your nephew being thrown in prison. Why aren't you mad at us?" Kokichi asked, fidgeting.

Itsuko's small smile grew warm. "You didn't do anything wrong. It was their actions that got them where they are now. However, if you are seeking my forgiveness...then don't worry. I've already forgiven you long ago."

"Thank you, Itsuko," Kokichi murmured, standing up and bowing, before walking to the door. Kaito followed suit. Itsuko waved from her seat, her smile not fading.

"Good luck, dears. I'm always rooting for you."

The two boys nodded, and left.

After Kaito shut the door, he turned to Kokichi, his eyes wide. "What the hell? She's so sweet."

"She is," Kokichi agreed, and the two of them began walking back to Kaito's truck.

"How did Takuro not treat her right? Or Haruto, for that matter."

"They were heartless, they only cared for themselves. But she was willing to do anything for them. They figured they could use her to their own advantage," Kokichi shrugged, "it sucks, but hopefully she'll be more at peace in the future, not having to deal with that."

"I hope so."

-

Music filled the banquet hall as people danced to the music. Kokichi watched everyone dancing from the sidelines, sipping at his grape panta that he'd brought. The two men of the hour danced together, smiles adorning their faces.

"Yo, Cock-itchy! We gonna dance or what?"

"We danced like twice already," Kokichi whined, "can't you go bother someone else?"

"Nope, you fuckin' owe me a dance," Miu stood nearby, her hair curled and pinned back, her pink dress low cut as usual.

"What about Angie?"

"Angie's taking a piss."

"Thanks for the info."

"Yeah, yeah. Come on, bitch, I don't have all fuckin' night!" Miu snorted. Kokichi sighed loudly and set his soda down and stepped over to her. He rested one hand on her shoulder, and his right hand, the injured one, held Miu's. Well, not exactly. It had been a few months since the incident. Actually, it's been five full months. It was currently December, and his hand, while healed, was still pretty tender. He'd torn off his skin to escape Takuro, after all. So his hand wasn't holding anything, and Miu held his wrist carefully as they swayed.

"Any particular reason why you wanna dance with me for the third time? I'm such a highly requested guy, you know," Kokichi smirked.

"Hey shota shit, did you know it's scientifically proven that people fuck around with rats? They're highly requested too."

"Fuck you."

"I'm not into tiny dicks."

"Aww, are you really so loose that even tiny dicks won't do it for you?"

"Fuck off."

"You came to me!"

"I come to a lot of people."

"Gross. Fucking pig."

The two shared a laugh. Miu twirled him once. Kokichi glanced at her curiously.

"Seriously though. What's up? Are you still paranoid of me being alone for too long?"

"So what if I am?" Miu asked defensively. Before Kokichi could respond, there was a tap on her shoulder. Both glanced over. Maki stood there, wearing a red dress. She played with her ponytail, a pout on her lips.

"Angie's locked in the bathroom."

"Again?!" Miu let go of Kokichi and hurried off. Maki followed her, glancing at Kokichi with a wry smile on her face. Kokichi blinked, and jolted in surprise.

"Bitch, what the fuck do you mean, again?! I need details!" he shouted after her. He barely saw Miu's thumbs up from the distance before she left the room, with Maki in tow. He huffed and crossed his arms. Well, that had been totally pointless. He looked around, spotting Kaito talking to Shuichi and Rantaro, each of them laughing. Kokichi sighed and headed to the balcony. A gust of cold wind hit his lithe body, but he ignored it.

He leaned against the railing, staring out into the night sky. Unlike at the New Year's party, he felt at ease. Much more relaxed.

It was funny. A lot changed in a single year. Kokichi was going right back to being heavily traumatized, but at least he knew he was safe now. No surprise villains jumping out to do evil things to him. No more assault, no more torture, no more pain. Ever since Rantaro paid for him to go to therapy, it's been a big help. It didn't take away the fact the entire year was traumatizing in it's own right, and two years prior to that had been traumatizing too. But he was moving on.

_If only Haruto and Takuro could see me now...they'd be so pissed off,_ Kokichi thought smugly.

The door opened, and the music got louder, before the door shut. Kaito joined him.

"Kichi? You good?"

"Yep. All good."

"No stalkers?"

"Nope."

"Good."

Kokichi chuckled and stared up at the twinkling stars. "Hey, Kaito?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you gotten over what happened?" he asked.

"What? You mean to you?"

"Yeah. I know you get nightmares sometimes too."

Kaito flushed. "That's...well, yeah but..." he sighed, "I had been waiting for you to come home, you know? Of course finding out you were gone had scared the shit out of me. And everyone else. I don't think...I'll ever forget that fear. Anyway, why does it matter? You're the one who was actually hurt by it all."

"Yeah, but unlike you, I'm in therapy for it. I'm moving on. Slowly, but I am."

"We'll both be alright," Kaito said firmly, "I believe that, to the stars and back. We'll get through this and heal. I'll be here for you, no matter what. This time, nothing's gonna stop me from protecting you."

"Mm." Kokichi made a noise of agreement.

"And maybe one day, we'll end up like Rantaro and Shuichi."

"...Maybe," Kokichi smiled, for once, not teasing Kaito for his sappy personality.

It was a long road to recovery, not just for them, but for everyone involved. But it would be okay. Kaito firmly believed it, and Kokichi believed it too. Because they were all friends, weren't they? Friends were there for each other no matter what, and Kokichi had the best damn friends he could ever ask for. All of them were amazing in their own way. Some more protective than others, some not so smart, but the variety made their whole group even better. Everyone made up for whatever someone else lacked. And having so many people supporting him felt...empowering? In a sense. It gave him hope.

Hope...he'd grown to quite like the word.

Yeah. He and Kaito had hope for a better future. And they'll work towards it, building their own future, one full of hope. Kokichi reached out and slowly, almost shyly, held Kaito's hand as the two of them stared out at the stars. Kaito gently gripped his uninjured hand.

There would be no more despair days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah. Can't believe it's just...done now. The final chapter in this torture fic is done. No more suffering, they can all move on and live.  
> This was...a ride, to finish. It took way longer than I thought it would, but it's over.  
> Thank you all, literally, for staying for the ride. Some of you are new who just barely finished WITD, and some of you have been here since the start of WITD. Thank you all <3

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is- the WITD sequel! Like last time, comments and kudos are what keeps me going! :D


End file.
